Unveiled in Goa, the statue of the Portuguese star was commissioned to inspire young people’s love of football, according to a state minister.
“It was an honor to inaugurate the beautification of open space, landscaping, garden with foundation & walkway,” Lobo added.
Whereas other statues of Ronaldo have provoked comment about their likeness to the football great, the one in Goa has touched on political sensitivities given the state’s colonial past.
Goa on India’s western coast is the country’s smallest state and was indelibly shaped by 450 years of Portuguese rule. However, the state was freed from that rule in 1961.
His tally puts him level with Argentina’s seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, and fourth in the all-time rankings behind Ronaldo, Iran’s Ali Daei, Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari, and Hungary’s Ferenc Puskas.
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter once described Indian football as a “sleeping giant,” though the country has never played in a World Cup.
According to football historian and statistician Gautam Roy, the journey by ship was too expensive and the players were unable to fulfill the compulsory requirement to wear football boots, as they usually played with bare feet.
A statue saga
Tweets compared the visage’s likeness to former Republic of Ireland striker Niall Quinn and former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise, though the bust’s creator Emmanuel Santos defended his work by saying that “even Jesus did not please everyone.”
This bronze figure, made by famous Spanish sculptor Jose Antonio Navarro Arteaga, is generally regarded as actually looking like the former Real Madrid striker, who now plays for Manchester United in the Premier League.
Swati A Gupta contributed to this report.
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