A statue of the five-time Ballon d’Or recipient has been unveiled in Goa to inspire the youth to take up the game as a profession.
Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most revered names in world football, often considered to be one of the greatest ever to have played the game. During a stellar career that involved stints with Sporting CP, United, Real Madrid and Juventus, he escalated to legendary status and is one of the most recognized personalities in the globe.
His fame requires no new introduction, but every now and then, we get to hear stories of his wide-reaching impact that tend to raise eyebrows. Ronaldo’s statue was unveiled in Calangute, Goa, in a bid to inspire the coming generation to pick up football as a profession.
”This is for the first time that the statue of Ronaldo has come up in India. This is nothing but to inspire our youth. If you want to take football to another level, then this is what young boys and girls will look forward to, taking selfies and looking at the statue and getting inspired to play,”
Goa minister Michael Lobo said, as quoted by ANI.
Lobo also mentioned that football is a great medium to negate the differences between people, and a lot of people who are opposing the installation of this statue are just staunch football haters who do not understand the impact it can have on society.
Although there are very few states in India that follow football religiously, Goa is definitely one of them and teams hailing from that state have received great adulation.
The statue has been in the making for nearly three years, and it cost INR 12 lakh for it to be completed. It weighs around 410 kgs and is nearly 15 feet tall. While this move has been welcomed by a lot of Indian fans on Twitter, some have also expressed their disappointment in the minister for ignoring Indian football stalwarts for this position.
India has had its fair share of football heroes, from the side that qualified for the 1950 World Cup, the one that finished fourth in the 1955 Olympics to the 21st-century stalwarts like Sunil Chhetri, Baichung Bhutia, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and many more. A lot of fans on social media have demanded for statues of one of the Indian stars to be installed to inspire the future stars.
