Football star Cristiano Ronaldo misspelled the name of the new host country when he spoke at the first press conference in Saudi Arabia after his multi-million dollar move to Al Nassr.
“This is not the end of my career coming to South Africa,” he said, with a solemn voice in the background proudly proclaiming “Saudi welcome to Arabia”.
While they couldn’t be happier, Saudi officials at Tuesday’s press conference did not seek to correct Ronaldo and did not seem to bother the new Saudi fans, who gave him a roaring welcome when he appeared in yellow and Al Nassr. blue kit at new home ground, Mrsool Park.
As tweeter @NVMakhanye stated: “😀 You don’t need to know the name of the country to get €200 million 😀 … Anyway, welcome to South Africa Ronaldo 😜”
His reported annual salary of $200m (£177m) is believed to make him the highest paid footballer in the world.
While it obviously slipped from the tongue, it did not stop some South African football fans from dreaming of seeing one of the world’s most famous stars play for the local team.
And South African tourism authorities still hope that Ronaldo will appear at the Moses Mabhida stadium, built in the coastal city of Durban for the 2010 World Cup.
The South African news site Phakaaathi described it as a “stunning blooper”, while football editor Jonty Mark commented: “Saudi Arabia and South Africa may have the same beginning at the beginning of each part of their name, but it’s still more than a little strange if Ronaldo couldn’t pick the right country in his first presser.
However, most tweeters in the Arab world ignored the gaffee, with @alasiri_555 commenting in Arabic: “Nothing is wrong. Everyone makes mistakes.”
BBC Arab producer Ahmed Rouaba said the focus of most tweets was on football, with Al Nassr’s fans expecting him to win the game for them – and lift club and country.
Al Nassr didn’t seem bothered, tweeting: “Everyone is happy today 😁💛”
And also posted a video of Ronaldo arriving in Saudi Arabia, in case anyone thought he was actually in South Africa:
Source: BBC
| Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not reflect Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no legal or other responsibility for the accuracy of the content. Please report inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a priority. |
Featured Videos