Portugal wanted to honor their star, Cristiano Ronaldo, with the plan of having a bust sculpture of the football player and renaming the Madeira Airport in Funchal to Ronaldo's as well. However, the ceremony on March 29 unveiled a rather odd-looking bust of the player and took only seconds of it to become a meme on the internet.
The Real Madrid player was present during the ceremony of the relaunching of the airport to Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo when netizens took an interest in pointing out the bust. Many people were quick to point out that Ronaldo's sculpture looks similarly to the Greco-Roman bust from Art Attack.
Simon Peach, Chief football writer at the Press Association, tweeted, "The Cristiano Ronaldo statue at the airport carrying his name. This is Art Attack..." Of course, many nodded to this resemblance connoting hashtags like #90'skidswill remember.
More photoshopped memes spread through the web with people distorting Ronaldo's face to look like the statue. Meanwhile, about hundreds of fans have attended the renaming ceremony. Not everyone though has appreciated the country's gesture to their home star.
The Lonely Planet reported Ronaldo as saying, "You know how proud I am of my roots, my homeland," while further stating that not many famous personalities get to be acknowledged while they're alive. At the same time, there's also another statue of the football player which many people claim to be disastrous as well.
In Madeira, there's another figure of Ronaldo which people claim to be with David Beckham's face. Its arms were also not in proportion. Its arms are long yet gaunt against the large body. What's more is that there's a huge bulge coming out from the player's trousers.
The Independent UK listed the people's opinion of Ronaldo's statues which most pointed out, "When will a good statue of Ronaldo finally be commissioned?" or rather, "How long will it be until Madeira is renamed Ronaldoland?"
