Cristiano Ronaldo is the heavy favourite to win the 2017 Ballon d’Or following his two-goal effort in Real Madrid’s win over Juventus on Saturday.The Portuguese superstar didn’t produce the best performance of his career but it was his brace that paved the way for Los Blancos to secure their 12th European Cup and their third in four years.Ronaldo reached 600 career goals and became the first man to score in three Champions League finals. The numbers speak for themselves - he is a legend.The former Manchester United star is 32 now and is playing fewer minutes than ever before. Yet Zinedine Zidane’s plan of conserving Ronaldo’s energy until the latter stages of the competition worked to perfection - he scored 10 goals in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.Those ties came against Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Juventus. Insane.And, worryingly for the rest of Europe, the forward insists he still feels “like a young boy”.“What is important is that I did again, an amazing season, me and my team-mates won the double,” Ronaldo said after Saturday’s win, per The Guardian. “I think the people don’t have words to criticise because the numbers don’t lie.
“I’m very happy, it’s one of the best moments in my career – I seem to say that every year. My head is just a number. I feel like a young boy.”
Ronaldo's $1bn contract with Nike
It didn’t take long after Ronaldo’s fourth Champions League triumph for his sponsors to celebrate their relationship with one of the greatest players in history.
Ronaldo’s contract with sportswear giants Nike is worth a reported $1 billion and will last a lifetime.
That’s an incredible sum. But consider that the Portugal international generated over $500 million in revenue for Nike in 2016, as reported by Goal.
Ronaldo's latest Nike ad
After the final, those who manage Ronaldo’s social media accounts posted a photo of the player as a child with the message ‘This boy knew.’ and the famous Nike swoosh.
The caption besides the image reads ‘#JustDoIt’.
There's something awkward about it
But there’s something interesting about the photo used. You can’t see it, but the jumper Ronaldo was wearing was made by Nike’s biggest rivals Adidas.
Adidas’ logo has been cropped out of the images that appear on Ronaldo’s Instagram and Twitter accounts but some eagle-eyed social media users have unearthed the original, uncropped photo.
Check it out below.
One word. Awkward.