Ron’s ‘forever love’
2 wks after baby grief, soccer star posts a poignant pic with daughter
DOTING Cristiano Ronaldo cradles his daughter in a heartwarming picture less than two weeks after the tot’s twin brother died.
The black and white photo was posted on the soccer star’s Instagram account yesterday and captioned “Forever Love”. Within an hour, four million fans had “liked” the image. Last night that stood at 11 million – with 125,000 comments.
Superfit Man United and Portugal legend Ronaldo is seen gazing adoringly at his daughter, who is snoozing happily and wearing a woolly hat. Ronaldo, 37, has massive support on social media – with a record 416 million followers on Instagram alone.
The striker and his partner Georgina Rodriguez revealed the heartbreak of losing their baby son on April 18 – calling him “our angel”.
They said in a statement on social media: “It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our baby boy has passed away.
“It is the greatest pain that any parents can feel. Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness. We would like to thank the doctors and nurses for all their expert care and support. We are all devastated at this loss and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time.
“Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you.”
The player missed Man United’s next match against Liverpool, where fans held a minute’s applause and dedicated a rendition of the Kop anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone to the star. The next day the couple returned home with their daughter, whose name has not been revealed.
Ronaldo has since scored in successive games and dedicated the goals to his lost son by pointing to Heaven.
The star and Spanish model Georgina, 28, have another daughter – Alana, three – while Ronaldo is also dad to Cristiano Jr, 11, and four-year-old twins Eva and Mateo.