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Cristiano Ronaldo is rise to fame has hardly been plain sailing. While the 35-year-old is amongst the richest athletes in the world at the moment, there was a time when he had to overcome poverty as a young boy.
As a teenager, Cristiano Ronaldo shared a room with three siblings, and his family would struggle to make ends meet.
In an interview with Piers Morgan in 2019, Cristiano Ronaldo revealed that he was often hungry as a young boy. The Juventus attacker also recalls a particular incident involving three McDonalds workers who gave him free burgers as a teenager.
Cristiano Ronaldo's McDonald's adventure
Speaking to ITV, Cristiano Ronaldo added that he and his teammates would go to a McDonald's outlet near the stadium, where they would be hoping to get free food after training.
"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”
“There was always Edna and two other girls. I never found them again."
Cristiano Ronaldo declared that he would love to find those who helped him in a time of need, adding that we would invite them over to his house for dinner if he were to find them.
“I asked people in Portugal, they closed the McDonalds, but if this interview can help find them, I would be so happy
“I want to invite them to Turin or Lisbon to come have dinner with me because I want to give something back.”
A few weeks after Cristiano Ronaldo's interview, a woman identified herself as one of the workers who was involved.
Speaking to Portuguese radio station Renascenca as transcribed by the Mirror, Paulo Leca said that Cristiano Ronaldo and his friends would come to the McDonalds outlet regularly.
“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”
“One of the boys was Cristiano Ronaldo who was perhaps the most timid of them all. This happened almost every night each week."
The mother of two revealed that she'd lost contact with Edna, who was her co-worker at the time.
“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."
“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.”
Cristiano Ronaldo's recollection of the story proves that he remembers the ones who were there for him regardless of the circumstances.
Since bursting onto the scene at Sporting Lisbon, the Portuguese superstar has represented the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
Cristiano Ronaldo is sure to go down as one of the all-time greats and this touching tale from his younger years proves that he is also a respectable human being.
