Ronaldo shoots, fans score – and mum goes wild!
CRISTIANO Ronaldo banned his mother from attending his matches after her habit of fainting in the stands, but yesterday she defied him – and promptly burst into tears when he scored twice on his return to Old Trafford.
Dolores Aveiro was seen with her hands over her mouth as she cried at her son’s first goal in Manchester United’s 4-1 win over Newcastle United.
Meanwhile, there were tears of joy among fans, who landed an unexpected windfall after an offer from bookies William Hill meant that many quadrupled their money on bets they placed that Ronaldo would score.
Ms Aveiro’s reaction was captured by a fan sitting in front of her as she watched the match from the VIP box with two of the footballer’s children. Ronaldo’s mother, 66, jetted in to Manchester from her home on Madeira on
‘We thought he might be a bit rusty. Clearly we were wrong’
Friday afternoon with a male friend. She was reunited with her grandchildren at the multimillion pound mansion in Cheshire which the family moved into last week, following 36-year-old Ronaldo’s £12.86million transfer from Italian team Juventus.
Her trip to the UK came despite the star confessing that he had told her she must not watch him play in person any more, after she fell twice and on one occasion broke her teeth.
He said: ‘She fainted two times in the stadium. She is nervous. She’s not allowed now to watch big games.’
And games don’t come much bigger for Ronaldo than yesterday’s, when he made a dream return to Manchester United 18 years after he signed for them in 2003, at the age of just 18.
The Portuguese international, who is often referred to as one of the greatest footballers of all time, was also watched by his Spanish girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez and his eldest son, Cristiano Jnr, 11.
Ms Rodriguez shared her excitement with her 28 million Instagram followers with a video of herself in the back of a taxi while on her way to the game yesterday afternoon.
Also present at the game was Sir
Alex Ferguson, the former Mandream chester United manager who originally signed Ronaldo from Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon.
And the fans were happy, too. A sea of red shirts with ‘Ronaldo’ and the number seven emblazoned on the back were seen outside the Old Trafford stadium, where a sell-out crowd of 75,000 were there to watch the star’s return.
Bookies William Hill had put flash odds of 2-1 that Ronaldo would hit the back of the net at any time in the game, up from what should have been 4-9. With so many fans taking up the offer, a spokesman for William Hill confirmed that it cost the company ‘an absolute fortune,’ saying: ‘We decided to take Ronaldo on as we thought he might be a bit rusty after a long summer.
‘Clearly we were wrong and it’s 1-0 to Ronaldo.’
The former Real Madrid star’s debut came just nine days after he landed on British soil for a new life in the UK.
He was joined quickly by Ms Rodriguez and his four children, Cristiano Jnr, Eva Maria, Mateo, both four, and three-year-old Alana.
Friends say that the family have already settled into life in Cheshire with a little help from some of Ronaldo’s old friends, including Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen.
The four children have already been enrolled in the £12,000-ayear school called The Ryleys, which is known for its emphasis on language teaching and its multilingual students.
While the children were at school, Ms Rodriguez and Ronaldo lapped up the September sunshine in the garden of their seven-bedroom home, which also boasts a tech fitness complex complete with pool.
The family are renting the property after Manchester United bosses arranged the accommodation as part of their two-year deal for the star, who will earn around £450,000 a week while at the club.