It was inevitable - a NEW Cristiano Ronaldo bust has been revealed that actually looks like him.
Ronaldo vs Messi:
The Ballon d’Or (literally "Golden Ball") is the award that is the most highly prized:
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo picked up the golden trophy for a fifth time (2017), equaling the achievement of Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
France Football's Ballon d'Or Award honours the male player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on voting by football journalists. France Football is one of Europe's most reputable sports weekly magazines containing football news from all over the world.
The European Golden Boot Award for goal-scoring exploits has also been widely recognised:
Messi has won three and Ronaldo four Golden Boot Awards, while both men have also won the UEFA Best Player Awards three times.
It should be mentioned here that Cristiano Ronaldo has already won The Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year Award twice (2016 and 2017).
The Best FIFA Football Awards was inaugurated in 2016, replacing the former FIFA Ballon d'Or Award, a merger between the FIFA World Player of the Year Award with France Football's Ballon d'Or Award which ran from 2010 to 2015.
Today’s Ballon d’Or Award was the proverbial 'cherry on the top' for Cristiano Ronaldo. It reaffirms Cristiano Ronaldo’s position as the best footballer in the world today.
The New Ronaldo Bust:
Cristiano Ronaldo's good looks have finally been immortalized with a bust that it a more realistic image of himself. This new bust was unveiled on Saturday 25 November at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. Ronaldo and his fans can now rest easy knowing that this handsome bronze figure, made by the famous Spanish sculptor from Seville, José Antonio Navarro Arteaga, 52, will forever uphold Ronaldo's good looks.
Apparently, Arteaga made the new piece after his son, who is a Real Madrid fan, saw the other bust at the Madeira International Airport and told his dad he could do better!
However, the new bust has also attracted some criticism. It has been remarked that the new bust reflects a 'too-good-looking' Ronaldo and that there seems to be a slight resemblance to David Beckham.
The Ronaldo bust, 90 cm high and weighing 60 kg has, reportedly, cost less than €50,000 (approx. R800,000). It is housed at Real Madrid's Tour Museum which is actually within the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium itself. It shows a more striking likeness of Ronaldo with naturalistic eyes dreamily looking into the distance, thick arched brows, a beauty spot resting above lifelike curved lips and perfectly coiffed hair, among other details.
The Ronaldo 'caricature' of a bust:
The first attempt at 'capturing' Ronaldo's face was a "total bust" (excuse the pun), when Portuguese artist Emanuel Santos designed a sculpture of Ronaldo's head to commemorate the renaming of Madeira's International Airport after him (Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo) back in March, 2017.
Madeira (capital: Funchal), part of the Macaronesia Archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, is Cristiano Ronaldo’s birthplace and belongs to Portugal.
Because the likeness of the bronze bust to the Portuguese football superstar was rather questionable, Santos' sculpture immediately became a pretext for jokes. In fact, Emanuel Santos was actually mocked all around the world for creating such a monstrosity. The original bust, which is still at the airport, has an awkward grin with unlevel eyes, faint and indistinct eyebrows and unevenly plump cheeks.
Hopefully, that ugly bust of Ronaldo will be replaced one day by a more appropriate likeness of the man. Furthermore, the other 'suspect' full-body statue of Ronaldo which stands outside his personal 'Museum CR7' in Funchal should also be replaced by a better one.
So, it seems that the Real Madrid striker has had rather bad luck in the past with his statue-makers...
...but what is certain is that Ronaldo has not allowed those 'amateur' sculptors to negatively influence his magic on the field. Well done, Ronaldo!
Dr Jerry Rodrigues
