Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodriguez recently lost their baby boy. As a result, the player was unavailable for yesterday’s Premier League clash against Liverpool, which saw Ralf Rangnick’s side lose 4-0 at Anfield. However, home fans put aside their differences with United, and the crowd held a minute’s applause in support of the Portuguese.
Liverpool fans applauded and sang the ‘You will never walk alone’ anthem at the seventh-minute mark to show their support for Ronaldo. The seventh minute was chosen because the forward wears the famous No. 7 jersey. A fan in the away end also held up Ronaldo’s United shirt with the number 7 on the shirt.
On Monday, Ronaldo and his partner Georgina took to social media to announce that their newborn boy had passed away. They added that it is the “greatest pain that any parents can feel“.
Ronaldo and Rodriguez were expecting twins. Their baby girl was born well and healthy, and they added that her birth gives them ”the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness”.
Liverpool and United players wore black armbands on their sleeves as a mark of respect and solidarity to Ronaldo and his family. Prior to the clash at Angield, United interim manager Ralf Rangnick mentioned that there were more important things in life than football and that the whole of the club is with Ronaldo in this difficult time.
“The whole team, the whole club is with him [Ronaldo]. For me, it was clear he has to be where he is now with his family.”
the German said.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also mentioned that the applause meant for Ronaldo was the ‘moment of the game’:
“So many things are much more important in life than football, we feel for Cristiano and his family. That is exactly how football should be with all rivalry aside at this moment. There is only one thing that is important and it was a show of class. All our thoughts, from the moment we heard about it, are with Cristiano and his family,”
