Cristiano Ronaldo belted out Portugal’s national anthem with immense pride and passion ahead of his country’s Euro 2020 opening fixture against Hungary – but did so while standing sideways.
As cameras panned to the Portugal skipper and talisman, he was at a different angle to the rest of his teammates. He was stood side-on, with his hand on the shoulder of goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
It’s not the first time that we have seen the five-time Ballon d’Or winner adopt the approach pre-match. But there is a good reason for it as Ronaldo is actually showing his patriotism by facing towards the Portugal flag.
17 years after his European Championship debut, Ronaldo still absolutely loves playing for his country and can’t help but get hyped up beforehand.
He’s turned side-on prior to a whole host of Portugal fixtures, varying from World Cup games to friendlies.
Argentina goalkeeper Willy Caballero did the same in the 2018 World Cup, while the whole Wales starting XI took a leaf out of Ronaldo’s book when they were side-on as they got in the zone for their 1-1 draw with Switzerland on Saturday in Baku.
In addition to his country’s national anthem, the other track that really gets Ronaldo going is the Champions League theme.
The competition’s top scorer gave us a wonderful rendition of the famous anthem before Real Madrid’s game against Spurs in 2017, quite clearly singing along to th etune.