A young Ronaldo super-fan met his idol this week when his mum’s impulsive decision to book the family into the same hotel as the football legend paid off.
Joey Ronald, 8, is obsessed with the Portugal star and has even dedicated his entire room to the Al-Nassr FC striker. As reported by Glasgow Live, the youngster has autism and ADHD and talks constantly about the player, spending hours every week practicing his football skills.
He hopes to one day follow in his hero’s footsteps – and although the family weren’t lucky enough to secure tickets to the Scotland vs Portugal game, his mum MaryJane (MJ) was still determined her boy would get to meet his idol. After seeing the Portugal team were staying at 5 star hotel Cameron House in Loch Lomond, she paid £380 for a room – and she was over the moon when the gamble paid off and they got to meet Ronaldo.
MJ, from Carmyle in Glasgow, said: “I saw a news article that Portugal were staying at Cameron House and photos of Ronaldo going down the slide in the pool. I impulsively decided just to book a night away there too and hope we would see Ronaldo.
“It was last minute and very impulsive. When Joey’s dad came upstairs from looking after the baby and I told him to hurry up and pack a bag, he thought I had lost the plot. It was really impulsive but something told me we would get to see him if we did it.”
The family, MJ, Joey, dad Stephen and 11-month-old sister Jorgie, headed to Loch Lomond in the hope of catching a glimpse of the former Manchester United ace. After missing him after training, they were delighted to see Ronaldo the following morning and Joey even got his Portugal strip signed.
MJ added: “We waited for about two hours and finally the team left the hotel and Ronaldo headed right towards Joey. I had my hand on his shoulder and I could feel him start to tremble, Ronaldo signed his top and a notebook and Joey was so excited he dropped the top. He was crying and just so emotional with it.
“Joey’s autism means he can become hyper fixated on his favourite things and Ronaldo is his absolute favourite so he just couldn’t believe it. He games online with friends and his tag used to be ‘Ronaldo’s number one autistic fan’. When we got home he immediately changed it to, ‘I met Ronaldo today’.
“People have said I’m mad spending all that money to see Ronaldo but it was a huge deal for Joey, he will remember it forever and we had a lovely stay away. Money comes back to you but this will most likely be his only chance to have met his hero. He can’t wait to go back to school on Monday and tell everyone who he met.”
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