It’s been a long time since Cristiano Ronaldo’s influence was restricted to merely what he did on the football pitch.
The 40-year-old former Manchester United and Real Madrid star is one of the biggest personal global brands on the planet, with his every move scrutinised.
He can often be a polarising figure, so when he met Donald Trump for a White House dinner back in November, it was guaranteed to make headlines.
Saha on Ronaldo's Trump meeting
The perennially controversial Trump is perhaps one of the few figures in the world who is more talked about than Ronaldo, so it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise that the two broke bread ahead of this summer’s World Cup, which is being played in North America.
Donald’s 19-year-old son Barron is a big fan of the forward, but the decision to meet with the most divisive politician of modern times raised the eyebrows of one of Ronaldo’s ex-team-mates.
“I was surprised Cristiano chose to do that, it’s something new for him,” his former Manchester United team-mate Louis Saha admitted.
“I remember when he pushed two bottles of soft drink away at a press conference once and it caused a storm, so he’s always had the ability to influence the wider world.”
That occasion saw Ronaldo move aside Coca-Cola bottles which had been strategically placed in front of him at Euro 2020. Ronaldo instead held up a bottle of water and this caused Coca-Cola’s market value to plummet by around £3bn.
This was a reminder of how even a small gesture can have a huge knock-on effect.
“I don’t know if Cristiano understood the ramifications of that visit,” Saha ponders of his photo opportunity with Trump.
“It might be taken as an endorsement of some of Trump’s policies, and he might not have meant it to come across like that.”
Ronaldo will be back in the United States in the summer, when his Portugal side take on Colombia, Uzbekistan, and a play-off winner in their group stage matches which will be split between Houston and Miami.
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