It was a big day for Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday as he had an airport in Madeira named after him and had his very own statue unveiled.
The four-time Ballon d'Or winner has really put his birthplace of Funchal, Madeira on the map, so it's no surprise that he has been honoured.
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Image: PA
The problem was, the statue was a bit shit and both Ronaldo and the man who made the sculpture ended up being relentlessly trolled on social media:
Emanuel Santos who made the Ronaldo bust, defended his work saying that "Even Jesus didn't please everyone".
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As quoted byTalkSPORT, he said:
"It's impossible to please both the Greeks and the Trojans.
"It's a matter of taste, it's not as simple as it sounds.
"I have seen works of other renowned artists go through similar experiences."
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The 40-year old also went on say that though Ronaldo asked for a couple of tweaks beforehand after being sent pictures of the head statue, the Real Madrid star was pleased with the end product.
Image: PA
Speaking to Portuguese media, he said:
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"Cristiano saw the photos that his brother sent him.
"I was with the brother at Cristiano's museum in Madeira and from the messages he sent, I could tell that he liked what he saw.
"He only asked for some wrinkles to be changed, that give him a certain expression in his face when he's about to laugh.
"He said it made him look older and asked for it to be thinned out a bit to make it smoother and more jovial. But they gave it the go-ahead before they liked what they saw.
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"When I arrived at the airport the bust had already been unveiled for the start of the ceremony.
"Cristiano was one of the last people to arrive but I spoke with him in the VIP room. I asked him what he thought of the result and he said he liked it."
Ronaldo would appear to be the only one who does like the statue as the volume of photoshops have been quite something.
James Corden did a feature on the bust on The Late Late Show last night and did not hold back. Like everyone else, Corden couldn't help but laugh at the design whipped up and the comparison of the statue and an image of Ronaldo that flashed up on the screen prompted plenty of giggles in the audience.
Peter Lovenkrands, John Arne Riise, Raoul Moat and the Art Attack head were among the comparisons with the statue and Corden added one more to the list - viewing the bust as a spitting image of American actor Gary Busey.
Watch Corden lay into the statue about 1 minute 15 into the following clip:
I reckon he's going to bring back the Smithy character back and give Ronaldo and the sculptor a big pep talk.
(h/t101 Great Goals)
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Cristiano Ronaldo
