Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo has been honored with a new gold statue 5,700 miles from Old Trafford.
The 36-year-old Portuguese star has been carved into a £12,000, 65 stone monument in the Indian city of Calangute in Goa.
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According to the Times of India, it is designed to inspire the next generation of footballers.
Goa Minister Michael Lobo shared pictures 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 a statue of Cristiano Ronaldo in the park to inspire our youth to take football to greater heights.
“It was an honor to inaugurate the open space, the landscaping, the garden with the foundation and the beautification of the walkway.”
He also told ANI: “This is the first time that a statue of Cristiano Ronaldo has been installed in India. It is nothing but an inspiration to our youth.
“If you want to take football to another level, this is what young boys and girls will look forward to, taking selfies and looking at the statue and inspired to play.”
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However, the statue has caused controversy among the locals, with some waving black flags next to it.
While Premanand Diwakar, president of the Calangute Constituency Forum, believes that the local footballers should have been felicitated instead.
He told The Navhind Times: “There are many great footballers from Calangute like Bruno Coutinho and Yolanda D’Souza, who have made India proud by playing football at the international level.
“Why couldn’t his statues be installed? He is from Calangute. Why the statue of the Portuguese footballer 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 of him – a quirky statue in his hometown of Madeira, Portugal.
The statue was unveiled by the airport in 2017, but had to be redesigned after it was originally mocked.
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