Alejandro Garnacho has left no stone unturned in showing off his enduring admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Manchester United youngster and Argentina prospect has always insisted Cristiano Ronaldo is his biggest influence in football.
Despite his controversial exit from Manchester United, the spectre of Cristiano Ronaldo is still hovering in the Red Devils squad.
Promising youngsters such as Antony and Alejandro Garnacho will not hesitate to occasionally flag Ronaldo symbols to cap their esteem admiration of the Portuguese legend.
In the FA Cup game against Everton, Alejandro Garnacho came on in the 71st minute, replacing Anthony Martial in the 3-1 victory at Old Trafford.
While the 18-year-old did not find the back of the net, he did grab some attention after he show off a pair of CR7-branded underwear.
At one moment, while lifting his shirt and pulling his shorts up the branding of the pants were visible.
Ronaldo is one of Garnacho’s footballing idols and his admiration has clearly not waned despite the Portuguese legend’s acrimonious exit from the club late last year.
United terminated Ronaldo’s contract after he lashed out at boss Erik ten Hag in an explosive interview with Piers Morgan.
Garnacho was thrilled when he was first able to share the pitch with the 37-year-old forward.
He pulled off Ronaldo’s iconic ‘SIUUU’ celebration when he scored in the Youth Cup final last season, and has been close to Ronaldo since breaking into Manchester United’s first-team.
And he has regularly labelled Ronaldo the GOAT, ahead of Lionel Messi, his countryman.
Ronaldo has now joined the Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr and became the highest-paid sportsperson of all time when he signed a lucrative £173million-a-year deal
He is yet to make his debut for the club due to a two-game ban being enforced by FIFA as well as the club being unable to register him.
The Saudi Pro League has a rule on the number of foreign players a club can have, and Al Nassr are at its limit which means they have to axe one to make room for Ronaldo.
FutballNews reported Cameroon and Al-Nassr top striker Vincent Aboubakar has been axed by the club to leave room for Cristiano Ronaldo.
As expected, Al-Nassr will continue to work on changes in their squad to accommodate Cristiano Ronaldo, but the two-match FA ban is still in force. The 37-year-old will not make the much-anticipated appearance in the next game.
He has to wait till the upper game to make his first appearance for the club. Also, FutballNews understands that Saudi Arabia are ready to bend their marriage laws to accommodate Cristiano Ronaldo, and allow him leave freely with his partner Georgina Rodriguez.
The decision of the Gulf State to throw in the towel on their sacred statues to help accommodate the football icon underwrites the enormous influence Cristiano Ronaldo has wielded in the game.
During his unveiling by the club, a record 3billion global audience reportedly tuned in to witness the event. This numbers surpass the 2billion viewers that tuned in to the 2022 World Cup final.
Despite his move to the Saudi league and his dwindling form as a player, Cristiano Ronaldo’s crackling influence on football and youngsters like Alejandro Garnacho cannot be overemphasized.
