The 30-year-old Real Madrid goal machine gave the money to Save the Children, which is helping survivors of the earthquake that struck the Asian country last month. Ronaldo also called upon his vast Facebook following of over 100 million people to donate to the children’s charity.
Last year Ronaldo, who grew up in a poor family in Madeira, is believed to have paid for a 10-month-old boy to have brain surgery and in 2004 he flew to the aid of Indonesian tsunami victims after he saw footage of a young man wearing a Portugal shirt with his name on the back.
Whilst Spanish football is beset by internal problems that could see the league programme suspended over allocation of TV monies, the Portuguese season is drifting towards a predictable finish. The matches involving the top two last weekend resulted in easy wins for both teams.
Benfica trounced relegated Penafiel 4-0, thanks to a brace from Lima and further goals from Jonas and Pizzi.
“Our two forwards were our two best players,” said Jorge Jesus afterwards, with Jonas now having notched eighteen league goals and Lima seventeen.
The irrepressible
Jackson Martínez, showed once again he is a striker from the very top drawer, netting both Porto’s goals in the 2-0 away win at Gil Vicente to reclaim top spot in the goal-scoring charts with twenty goals.
His second strike was a spectacular overhead kick.
The Colombian is set to leave this summer and he will be difficult to replace at the Estádio do Dragão.
A win at Vitória de Guimarães on Sunday will see Benfica crowned champions for the second consecutive season. They have now won 32 of their 39 games in domestic competitions this season.
Sporting could only draw 1-1 at Estoril but are guaranteed the third Champions League play-off place. Sporting are one of several European clubs who have fallen foul of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.
The Lisbon club have until July to meet certain requirements and if not will only be allowed to register 22 players as opposed to the usual 25. In addition Sporting must present a zero deficit by 2017.
In the Second Division, leaders Tondela suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat at SC Olhanense. The win guarantees the Olhão club league survival and they have now beaten the top two teams in the past fortnight. Portimonense lost at home to relegation threatened Atletico whilst SC Farense drew 3-3 at home to Oliveirense.