Cristiano Ronaldo statue painted with Lionel Messi name and number in Portugal

The statue of Cristiano Ronaldo in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, has been vandalised. Somebody painted the back with Lionel Messi’s name and number, after the Barcelona star won his fifth Ballon d’Or on Monday night.

The statue was inaugurated after Real Madrid won the Club World Cup in December 2014. Ronaldo’s sister Katia Aveira blasted the perpetrators with a xenophobic discourse, saying they were “savages who should live in Syria”.

By the end of the day the statue was cleaned, according to a report, although the police were still searching for the person or people that vandalised it.