CELEBRITY
Super Star Cristiano Ronaldo drives to Man Utd training ground in £170k supercar
The Portuguese legend, Cristiano Ronaldo is back in Manchester United training and could make his second debut for the club when the Red Devils face Newcastle at Old Trafford on Saturday.
He is officially back at the club and is already making his presence known at Carrington, the Manchester United training ground.
On Tuesday, the 36-year-old completed his first session since signing a two-year contract with the Red Devils.
He had to complete a five-day period of isolation after landing in the United Kingdom, after the government rejected Old Trafford bosses’ appeal for a quarantine exemption.
After completing the time at his new house, Ronaldo was back at the club’s training ground, meeting up with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his new teammates.
The forward had a face-to-face chat with Solskjaer in his office, before swiftly getting into his training gear to ramp up his preparations for this weekend.
And following his introduction, Ronaldo is now on the same schedule as the rest of the United squad, appearing for training bright and early on Wednesday morning.
He was spotted driving into Carrington in his £170k Lamborghini Urus, one of a number of supercars the car-loving superstar has in his possession.
According to the Sun, Ronaldo ensured that any property he moved into had ample space for his fleet of luxury cars, with a total value of £17million.
Despite costing almost £200k, Ronaldo’s Lamborghini is merely a runaround compared to his other cars, with a Ferrari Monza valued at £1.4m, a £2.15m Bugatti Chiron and a £1.7m Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport.
Ronaldo was also gifted a £516k Brabus G-Wagon by his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez last year, with the Portuguese superstar posting an image of the car on his social media.
His prompt return to training has fuelled speculation that he will make his debut this weekend, when Man Utd take on Newcastle at Old Trafford.
After his deal was confirmed, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner quickly turned his attention to winning trophies at the club he helped to three Premier League titles and a Champions League crown in his first spell.
“I have a fantastic history with this amazing club,” he said last week. “I was there at 18 years old and of course I’m so happy to be back home after 12 years. So I’m really glad and looking forward to starting my first game.
“I think it’s the best decision that I have made. It’s right on point in my opinion.
“I moved from Juve now to Manchester, it’s a new chapter, I’m so happy and glad, and I want to carry on again, to make history, to try to help Manchester achieve great results, to win trophies and number one of them, to win great things.”
-Mirror
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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