MANCHESTER UNITED legend Cristiano Ronaldo has been honoured with a new gold statue… 5,700 miles away from Old Trafford.
The Portuguese star, 36, has been sculpted into a £12,000, 65 stone monument in the Indian town of Calangute, Goa.
It’s been erected to inspire the next generation of footballers, according to the Times of India.
Goa’s minister Michael Lobo shared snaps of the statue on his Twitter account.
He also wrote: “For the love of football and at the request of our youth we put up Cristiano Ronaldo’s statue in the park to inspire our youngsters to take football to greater heights.
“It was an honour to inaugurate the beautification of open space, landscaping, garden with foundation and walkway.”
He also told ANI: “This is for the first time that the statue of Cristiano Ronaldo has come up in India. This is nothing but to inspire our youth.
“If you want to take football to another level then this is what young boys and girls will look forward to, taking selfies and looking at the statue and getting inspired to play.”
However, the statue has drawn controversy among the locals, with some waving black flags next to it.
While Calangute constituency forum president Premanand Divkar believes local footballers should have been honoured instead.
He told The Navhind Times: “There are so many great footballers from Calangute like Bruno Coutinho and Yolanda D’Souza, who have brought laurels to India by playing football at international level.
“Why couldn’t their statues be installed? They are from Calangute. Why the Portuguese footballer’s statue has been installed.”
The west Indian state of Goa was a colony of Portugal, but has been independent for 60 years.
Ronaldo already has a statue made of him – a bizarre bust in his Portugal hometown, Madeira.
The bust was unveiled by the airport in 2017, but had to be redesigned after it was originally mocked.
