It should come as no surprise that a brand (like Nike) would give one of their biggest stars (like Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo) a bit of preferential treatment. The superstar has the face of Nike's Mercurial Vapor and Mercurial Superfly family of boots for the last and currently wears the manufacturers recently introduced Mercurial Superfly IV boots.
Cristiano Ronaldo trains in custom Nike Mercurial Superfly IV boots
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The Superfly is a Flyknit construction like Nike's control boot, the Magista and also features the high-ankle Dynamic Fit collar that Nike say will help lock the player's foot into the shoe. The Superfly has been a major hit at the 2014 World Cup with representatives wearing the boot on all 32 teams.
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Ronaldo, who wore the stock Superfly in Portugal's opening match (a brutal 4-0 loss to Germany who went a man up following Pepe's red card), has been training in something different. The boots look a lot like the Mercurial Vapor from Nike in that they don't feature the Dynamic Fit collar but they also do not feature the Vapor's synthetic upper. Instead, upon closer inspection, it is easy to see that the boots are in fact Flyknit and come complete with the Superfly's Brio support cables that run from the lace eyelets to the carbon fiber outsole.
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Whether Ronaldo will wear these in Portugal’s next match on Sunday, the 22nd, remains to be seen but for now, it sure is a very interesting spot.
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