National Daily had previously reported on the Portuguese captain snubbing the Coca Cola bottles in preference for a bottle of water at his Portugal against Hungary pre-match press conference in the ongoing Euro 2020 tournament on Monday.
The above gesture was later reported to have cost the giant company about $4 billion in shares fall moments afterwards.
The former Real Madrid forward’s gesture was further replicated on Tuesday night when the French midfielder Paul Pogba similarly removed the bottle of Heineken during his France against Germany post-match press conference.
Amazingly, Italy’s Manuel Locatelli soon became the latest player to ditch the bottles of Coca Cola away from the views of the camera when the Sassuolo’s midfielder like Ronaldo took water in preference to the frizzy drinks at his Italy against Switzerland post-match press conference.
While Ronaldo and Locatelli’s gestures could be traced to their strict concern for fitness, Pogba’s could be as a result of his religious values being a practicing muslim even though the beer is marketed as 0.0 per cent alcohol.
Meanwhile, National Daily gathered that UEFA has finally aired their view on the above development when the Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen said that UEFA has “communicated with the teams regarding this matter”.
“It is important because the revenues of the sponsors are important for the tournament and for European football,” Kallen said in a briefing.
Kallen said tournament rules require compliance with UEFA’s promises to sponsors, though players with religious objections “don’t need to have a bottle there”.