Cristiano Ronaldo may not have been awarded the 2015 Ballon d’Or best player but there is no question that the Portuguese player has established his mark as one of the legendary soccer players in the world.
Everyone knows that Lionel Messi won the award over his rival and seeing the popularity of the two pro football players, it may not come as a surprise if the following of each would go a bit overboard.
Such is a practice in any sport though there are limitations. And with all due respect to Ronaldo, desecrating and vandalizing a monument put up in honor of his achievements is something that does come a bit foul.
For the sanely minded fans, most will agree that vandalizing a statue with the name of their idol (in this case Messi) is a bit too much. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if Messi himself would condone the act.
Word of the vandalism made on the statue came out in the open from Ronaldo’s sister (Katia Aveiro) via Twitter. Rightfully so, she was pretty much upset at what the vandals (who are likely to be fans of Messi) but goes on to say that such sheds a bad light to the world’s leading island destination (Funchal, Madeira).
The statue was put up back in 2014, a memorial for Ronaldo and something unveiled as part of his personal museum via SB Nation.
Aveiro lamented the low act, something obviously meant to add insult to injury (with reference to Messi being named the World’s Best Male Player):
"This is a disgraceful act of vandalism in itself but just shows the levels of jealousy that exist. As a Portuguese citizen it embarrasses and saddens me. This island is clearly still inhabited by savages who have no respect and don’t know how to live in a respectable society," Aveiro was quoted as saying via the Daily Mail.
As of this writing, there are no leads on who the perpetrators could be. There is the possibility that the ones responsible behind it may never be known.
The thing is that this poor act of sportsmanship was pretty much uncalled for. It cannot be justified and disrespecting someone who has made his contributions to the sport has been obviously overlooked.
It remains to be seen if Ronaldo or even Messi speaks on the dastardly act, something both legendary players are likely to call foul. Then again, these instances point out that both are powerless over unruly fans/followers.