Cristiano Ronaldo launched an appeal to find the McDonald’s ladies who gave him free burgers when he was a hungry child growing up in Portugal.
The Juventus superstar made the plea during an interview with Piers Morgan, which aired on ITV this week.
“We were a little hungry. We had a McDonald’s next to the stadium, we knocked on the door and asked have you got any burgers,” Ronaldo said.
“There was always Edna and two other girls. I never found them again.
“I asked people in Portugal, they closed the McDonalds, but if this interview can help find them, I would be so happy.
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“I want to invite them to Turin or Lisbon to come have dinner with me because I want to give something back.”
A woman has now come forward claiming to be one of the McDonald’s workers who helped Ronaldo.
Paula Leca, a married mum-of-two, identified herself as one of the three ladies in an appearance on Portuguese radio station Renascenca.
“They would appear in front of the restaurant and when there were hamburgers left over our manager would give us permission to hand them over,” she said, per the Mirror.
“One of the boys was Cristiano Ronaldo who was perhaps the most timid of them all. This happened almost every night each week.
Image: Facebook
“I still laugh about it all now. I had already told my son about it but he thought it was a fib because he couldn’t imagine his mum ever giving Cristiano Ronaldo a hamburger.
“My husband already knew about it, because sometimes he would go to pick me up from work at night and he also saw him.
“It’s funny to go back now to something that happened so long ago. It shows his humility. At least now people know this wasn’t an invention.
Image: Facebook
“If he invited me out for dinner, I’d go for sure. The first thing I’d do would be to say thank you and during the meal we would have time to remember those times.”
Paula has lost contact with Edna.
She also added on Facebook on Thursday: “I’m here thinking about the twists and turns in life.
“I didn’t think Karma existed but I’m beginning to believe now that it does.”