Cristiano Ronaldo’s armband fetches 64,000 euros at auction

Portugal football team captain Cristiano Ronaldo’s armband was sold to an anonymous bidder at a charity auction for 64,000 euros. The Portugal captain flung the armband to the ground out of frustration during the match against Serbia.

The match was on a verge to end with the score 2-2 and a few seconds left on the timer when the skipper took the crucial shot to win the game. The referee thought that the ball did not cross the goal line before Serbian defender Stefan Mitrovic cleared it and did not use the video technology to confirm it.

Angry Ronaldo received a yellow card for his protest against the referee and left the ground after the final whistle.

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A local firemen deployed at the stadium saw an opportunity and picked up the armband which Cristiano flung on the ground and immediately contacted a regional sports channel.

Djordje Vukicevic told AFP on Tuesday that he suggested raising funds required to treat a six-month-old baby, Gavrilo Djurdjevic, who suffers from a rare disease.

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The infant is battling spinal muscular atrophy, a disease which affects about one in 10,000 births, and results in death or the need for permanent ventilation by the age of two in 90 percent of cases.

After the sports channel Sportklub verified the item’s authenticity by checking post-match photos and videos, they teamed up with a charity organisation and put Ronaldo’s armband up for a bidding contest on auctioning website Limundo.com.

The 64,000 euros gathered at the auction represents only a fraction of the amount needed for the baby’s treatment, as his hopes are pinned on the “world’s most expensive drug”, the treatment that costs around two million euros ($2.36 million).