Ronaldo’s Rather Unfortunate Statue at Madeira Airport Has Been Replaced
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In March of last year, Madeira Airport (FNC) revealed the bust of world-renowned Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo – and it went viral for all the wrong reasons. Now, more than a year later, the airport has unveiled a new statue of Ronaldo upon his request, and most would agree that the new sculpture captures his symmetry and charm much better than the original.
The original bust was revealed to commemorate the renaming of the airport to honor the superstar athlete, making it what it’s called now, Cristiano Ronaldo Airport. The bronzed figure caught traction on Twitter and some made edits of what Ronaldo would look like if his face actually resembled the statue. Maybe it was the sculpture’s goofy smile or unaligned eyes or the reflection of the bronze on the teeth that turned it into a meme. Regardless, the general consensus was that the face wasn’t Ronaldo’s.
Poking fun at the bust was a blast for almost everyone. While the sculptor, Emanuel Santos defended his work and argued that it captured Ronaldo’s essence the best, many of us wondered how such a universally attractive face could be configured into such an interesting bust.
Ronaldo probably wondered this, too, because he asked for a new bust to be sculpted. After all, he is considered to be one of the GOAT (greatest of all time) according to ESPN, especially after one of his best performances, if not his best performance, in the tied Spain VS Portugal World Cup game on Friday.
Needless to say, the original artist was not commissioned for the sculpture that replaced his original. An unnamed Spanish artist’s work replaced his.
The downside: No more selfies with the funny sculpture. People are even petitioning to bring it back. The upside: We assume that Ronaldo is probably happier with his new chiseled and dignified face at FNC.
Featured image by HELDER SANTOS/AFP/Getty Images.
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