Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo was subjected to a political ban at the World Cup, as he compared the Portuguese footballer to Lionel Messi.
But Cristiano Ronaldo has never publicly commented on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. However, fake news regarding this has been spread online many times.
A fake news story about Ronaldo donating 1.5 million euros to the Palestinians after auctioning off his Golden Boot award was widely circulated. However, in 2019, a sports management company representing Ronaldo rejected the complaint.
An image of the star footballer with ‘Together with the Palestinians‘ written in Spanish was also widely shared online. But that too was fake. The image used there was Ronaldo’s tribute to the victims of the 2011 earthquake in Spain.
There is a picture of Ronaldo wearing a Palestinian scarf around his shoulders. But it was actually given to him by the Palestinian Football Association. At that event, he stood next to the head of the Palestinian Association, Jibril Rajoub.
The Portuguese star also met several Israeli ministers. He is also pictured with former Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz. There he was seen presenting a football shirt of his own to the Israeli minister.
