Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had a Coca-Cola bottle thrown at him while celebrating his second goal from the spot during last night’s 2-2 draw between Portugal and France at UEFA Euro 2020.
After netting his second penalty of the night and restoring parity for Portugal, Ronaldo went to celebrate in front of the zealous Portuguese supporters at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium in Budapest when one fan got carried away by his emotions and threw a bottle onto the pitch.
No way they threw a Coca Cola bottle at Ronaldo 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/YKWJua7ZlC
— TC (@totalcristiano) June 23, 2021
While the act in itself wasn’t that significant, the fact that it was a Coca-Cola bottle raised some eyebrows.
For the uninitiated, it was just over a week ago that Ronaldo made headlines after merely removing two Coca-Cola bottles from his UEFA Euro 2020 press conference and replacing them with water.
While the act looked innocuous at first glance, it ended up costing Coca-Cola in the stock market as the soft drink brand’s valuation plummeted and they lost $4 billion on the market value.
Ronaldo’s gesture kickstarted a trend as Paul Pogba – a practicing Muslim – removed alcoholic beer bottles from his table due to religious reasons before interacting with the media.
Italy's Manuel Locatelli also followed Ronaldo in moving Coca-Cola bottles at a Euro 2020 press conference, while Ukraine’s Andriy Yarmolenko took an opposite stance by making sure the sponsored brands were within camera.
Wednesday night’s incident was rather ironic since the fan distinctly threw a Coca-Cola bottle at Ronaldo, who ducked and avoided being struck by it.
However, that wasn’t the only time Ronaldo came close to danger on Wednesday night. Soon after netting his second penalty of the game and equalling the record for most international goals by a player, a fan made it onto the pitch and looked as though he was heading straight for the Portuguese legend.
Thankfully, local security at the stadium sprang into action quickly and stopped the fan before he could make it to Ronaldo.
Ronaldo's two penalties against France rescued a valuable point for Portugal and set up a mouth-watering last-16 clash against Belgium.
The 36-year-old, who is now the leading scorer in major tournaments with 20 goals, can surpass former Iran striker Ali Daei's all-time international scoring record if he finds the back of the net against Belgium.
Featured photo : Darko Bandic / AFP
