Cristiano Ronaldo posted a special message of thanks to fans of Liverpool and Manchester United following their emotional tribute to him during Tuesday’s Premier League match.
Both clubs put on a show of support during Tuesday’s league encounter at Anfield, sharing a widespread round of applause around the ground throughout the seventh minute of the clash – in tribute to Ronaldo, whose baby son passed away on Monday. Ronaldo shared a reel of the minute on his Instagram account on Thursday, with the message “Thank you all”, alongside Ronaldo’s signature.
The Manchester United superstar and his partner confirmed the tragic death of their baby boy on Monday, describing their new-born baby boy as an “angel” while adding that their baby daughter was giving the two "strength" amid the emotional pain. Ronaldo was not involved in the United matchday squad for their Premier League trip to Liverpool on Tuesday evening as the club afforded him compassionate leave.
The couple penned a joint statement which was posted on social media on Monday evening: "It is with our deepest sadness that we announce the passing of our baby boy. It's the greatest pain any parent can feel. Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness.
"We would like to thank the doctors and nurses for all their expert care and support. We are all devastated at this loss and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time. Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you."
The two babies, who were born on 18 April, were the fifth and sixth children of the Manchester United forward and followed Rodriguez giving birth to Alana Martina, on 12 November 2017. Ronaldo became a father for the first time in June 2010 to his son, Cristiano Jr. and then became father to twins, daughter Eva and son Mateo, born in June 2017 in the United States via surrogacy.
Ronaldo's sister Katia Aveiro posted an emotional open letter to her brother on Instagram on Monday evening after the news, referencing the death of their father in 2005: “I love you and my heart is with you over there. May God take care of you and strengthen your path more and more. Our angel is already on father’s lap. And our little girl is there firm and strong and full of health and is going to show us with every day that only love matters.”
Ronaldo had penned heartbreaking messages to his son before his birth. Announcing their happy news back in October, Ronaldo shared a relaxed photo of them in bed with their scan. They captioned it: "Delighted to announce we are expecting twins. Our hearts are full of love - we can’t wait to meet you." They used baby and heart emojis and a blessed hashtag.
At Christmas, they shared another moving family moment on social media - the gender reveal. Ronaldo captioned the video: "Where life begins and love never ends" with six heart emojis and the hashtag blessed as the two babies genders were revealed, with the footballer's four other children involved. Just two weeks ago he took to Instagram to share a family photo, with Georgina's beautiful bump on display. He captioned the beautiful snap: "Family is everything".
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford led the response from Ronaldo’s club team-mates in sending messages of support. The forward said: "Thoughts are with you and Georgina brother. I’m so sorry." David de Gea also posted a heart in response to Ronaldo's post. That followed United as a club stating their support, saying: "Your pain is our pain. Sending love and strength to you and the family at this time."
Ronaldo's mother Dolores Aveiro replied to the Instagram with a sad-face emoji, while the superstar's United teammates Diogo Dalot and Alex Telles - to whom he is particularly close due to Portuguese being their native language - replied with love hearts, as did Donny van de Beek.
