REAL Madrid FC's Cristiano Ronaldo now has his named emblazoned across the airport in Funchal, capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira – but his moment of glory has been somewhat overshadowed by memes about the bronze statue of him at the entrance.
CR7 attended the unveiling of his sculpted 'likeness' at what is now Cristiano Ronaldo Airport, in homage to the Madeira-born sporting superstar, along with Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa, and regional government of Madeira president Miguel Alburquerque.
But since then, the joke has been on Ronaldo.
Among the popular memes doing the rounds on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social networks, one posted by Dani Bordas shows a photo of Cristiano in the early days of his career, barely out of his teens, along with a present-day shot and one of the statue, with the caption: “Watching Cristiano Ronaldo's evolution is incredible.”
Another, captioned 'Sloth Airport', shows the bust of CR7 with the head of a sloth, and a third next to one of the horror movie 'star' Chuckie.
He has even been compared with the infamous courtroom sketch of Tom Brady, by Yahoo Sports.
Others have superimposed the bronze bust onto photos of the 'real' CR7's body and blended the colour, with eerie results.
The original creator of the bronze head-and-shoulders sculpture, responding to critics – and memes – said: “Cristiano told us to make sure he didn't have any wrinkles.”
At just 31 years old, however, CR7 is unlikely to have many of those.
Not everyone in Portugal is proud enough of their compatriot to believe him worthy of having an airport named after him, however.
Former Secretary of State for the Portuguese Socialist Party, Francisco Seixas da Costa, says changing the name of the terminal in Funchal 'stretches the limits of good sense, justice and the ridiculous'.
