The gala dinner which Cristiano Ronaldo attended, together with his girlfriend Georgina Rodríguez, last Tuesday at the White House seems to have gone very well, so much so that he formed a new friendship: that of a footballer with the American President Donald Trump. Now the captain of the Portuguese team and striker of Al-Nassr FC has shared a series of photos and videos on his Instagram account, where he has 668 million followers, showing off the golden key to the White House that the Republican president gave him, and appearing posing with him and his partner in the Oval Office. The footballer’s stay in Washington is part of the visit of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.
In publishing, with more than 17 million I likeCristiano dedicated some words of gratitude to Trump: “Thank you, Mr. President, for your invitation and for the warm welcome that you and the First Lady have given to me and my future wife, @georginagio. Each of us has something precious to offer and I am ready to help inspire new generations to build a future defined by courage, responsibility and lasting peace”, he writes in English.
The White House Instagram profile also wanted to demonstrate the good harmony between the footballer and Trump, and published a video in which the president can be seen giving the couple a tour of the colonnade, where photographs of the country’s former leaders are hung. In the images, we see Cristiano Ronaldo laughing at something, inaudible, that Trump tells him.
“Two GOATS (The greatest of all timewhich translates as ‘the best of all time’),” we read in the message that accompanies the video in which Georgina Rodríguez can also be glimpsed next to her boyfriend. A publication that the footballer also shared on his networks.
She too, for her part, wanted to show some glimpses of her trip to the United States, and shared it in hers stories on Instagram, a social network on which he has more than 71 million followers, some more private details of the visit. The model shows the navy blue dress she wore for the gala dinner, which turns out to be the only one worn by actress Hilary Swank in 2005 when she won the Oscar for best actress for A million dollar baby. Georgina Rodríguez republished some of them stories by makeup artist Patrick Ta, known for working with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian. As seen in the images, he was in charge of doing both her – who he describes as “the queen” – and Cristiano’s makeup for the dinner.
During the dinner, Donald Trump thanked Ronaldo for his presence and stressed that his little son, Barron Trump, “respects him a little more” after introducing him in person. Also present at the dinner were the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and the billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who returned to the White House after his departure and public controversies with the president, having resigned in April from his position in the Republican administration as director of the Department of Government Efficiency. On social networks a selfies of the player with the richest businessman on the planet.
His visit is part of Saudi Arabia’s promotion strategy to bid to host the World Cup in 2034. The sovereign wealth fund PIF, owned by the crown prince, is also the majority shareholder of Ronaldo’s team, Al-Nassr FC. In June the Portuguese renewed his contract with the Saudi team for another two years and is also the owner of a small percentage of the club.
This new alliance of Cristiano Ronaldo with Donald Trump and Mohamed bin Salman has divided the followers of one of the richest footballers. It has received thousands of supportive comments, while others are disappointed. The crown prince was charged in 2018 with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. According to the US secret services, Bin Salman was the instigator of the assassination. The journalist was strangled by Saudi agents and his body was dismembered to secretly remove the body from the building. During the meeting with the prince, Donald Trump justified the crime as “things that happen”. The Republican president has also been accused by international organizations of violations of the human rights of migrants, for his massive deportation plan, which includes violent raids by ICE agents and mega prisons. Additionally, he has been linked to Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire businessman accused of multiple child rapes.
