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Call of the Royal

'The King' called to congratulate Ronaldo on Juventus wondergoal

The 33-year-old’s overhead kick against Juventus last week got the royal seal of approval.

REAL MADRID PRESIDENT Florentino Perez has revealed that the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, called him to praise Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese scored an incredible overhead kick against Juventus as Zinedine Zidane’s side put the Italians to the sword 3-0 in Turin.

It was an effort that drew applause from the home crowd, something that Ronaldo even said had never happened to him previously.

And Perez, who hailed the 33-year-old as the “great heir” to Alfredo Di Stefano at the Bernabeu, has disclosed that he got a very special phone call in the aftermath.

“Juan Carlos called me to congratulate Cristiano,” he revealed to Gazzetta dello Sport.

“His goal against Juventus was one of the most beautiful in football history, a wonderful goal by the best player in the world.

“What happened in Turin was very exciting and shows the greatness of Juventus as well as their fans.”

Meanwhile, Perez labelled Ronaldo as the “great heir” to the late Di Stefano, who achieved iconic status with the Spanish side thanks to his exploits in the 1950s and 60s, during which he won five European Cups and scored 308 goals in 396 appearances, and has long been considered one of the all-time greats of the game.

Ronaldo, though, is right up there with him according to Perez, who tried to explain the importance of Di Stefano in the history of Real Madrid.

“The great players of the past are Real Madrid’s main assets,” he said. “Di Stefano changed the history of football, as well as that of Madrid. He helped to construct the legend of Real Madrid all over the world.

“Cristiano is Di Stefano’s great heir and in him the values of Real Madrid are reflected. He’s our all-time top scorer and represents all that we are: talent, work, sacrifice, professionalism and ambition. Cristiano today is a symbol of Real Madrid.”

Ronaldo has played 431 times for Los Blancos and has struck 446 goals, while he has won the European Cup three times in the Spanish capital.

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