Ronaldo’s statue in Portugal vandalised with Messi’s name

Cristiano Ronaldo’s statue on his home island of Madeira has been vandalised with Lionel Messi’s name and shirt number painted on it.

The graffiti appeared on the statue in the island’s capital Funchal on Tuesday night after Barcelona’s Messi claimed a fifth Ballon d’Or ahead of the Real Madrid star.

Messi’s name and the number 10, both scrawled in red, had been removed on Wednesday after officials were alerted to the damage.

Ronaldo unveiled the 11-foot bronze statue of himself in December 2014 on the seafront, a few hundred metres from his own self-financed museum.

Ronaldo’s sister Katia Aveiro has described the act as shameful.