Ronaldo museum to himself upsizes to larger home

Lisbon: Cristiano Ronaldo’s museum on Madeira has upsized to a larger home in anticipation of the Real Madrid star winning “future trophies”, his cousin told yesterday.

The Portugal striker’s self-financed shrine now occupies a prime seafront position in Funchal, the island’s capital where “CR7” was born in 1985.

The museum’s new two-storey site “will be able to welcome Ronaldo’s future trophies,” his cousin and museum director Nuno Viveiros said.

The treasure trove charting the success of Madeira’s most famous son draws in 200,000 visitors a year.

It boasts two waxworks of the former Manchester United forward whilst a 3.4-metre-high (11 feet) bronze statue he unveiled of himself in December 2014 has been moved to greet visitors at the entrance.

In January the statue was the target of graffiti when it was tagged with the name and shirt number of arch-rival Lionel Messi, hours after the Barcelona superstar saw off Ronaldo to claim a fifth world player of the year award.

Among the 160 trophies on display are Ronaldo’s three Ballons d’Or.

But one glaring omission is any honour relating to his time on international duty.

The 31-year-old, who won a third Champions League title last month, will be hoping to redress that anomaly at Euro 2016 with Portugal opening their Group F campaign against Iceland on June 14.

Irrespective of Ronaldo’s success or not at the European Championships his cousin is confident he will soon be taking delivery of fresh silverware.