Cristiano Ronaldo winning the 2016 Ballon d’Or is not what many people would call shock news.
We knew long before tonight’s announcement. You knew. Everyone else knew. And, even if he wasn’t at the ceremony himself, Ronaldo certainly knew.
But when did he know? That’s the real question. And someone might well have just cracked it.
BBC journalist Jamie Whitehead and his eagle eyes spotted something in the photo of Ronaldo accepting his award.
Le vainqueur du Ballon d'Or France Football 2016 : CRISTIANO RONALDO #ballondor pic.twitter.com/IP5J2s7pqk
— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) December 12, 2016
Have you spotted it yet?
No?
We’ll give you a couple of seconds.
Give up? It’s the shirt. We’ve seen it before somewhere – but where?
Over to you, Jamie.
Was Ronaldo given the award on the day he signed the contract (Nov 13) or did shockingly wear the same shirt twice? pic.twitter.com/fB4gnnqrA8
— Jamie Whitehead (@jamiewh_) December 12, 2016
Now, if we know one thing about Cristiano, it’s that he’s not the sort of man to wear the same shirt twice in a year.
In fact, he’s often not the sort of man to wear a shirt at all.
Ronaldo wouldn’t be the first person to take part in two photoshoots on the same day and roll out the pictures one by one as if they happened separately.
We’re all familiar with the Tottenham contract conspiracy.
And the Portuguese is a busy man. He doesn’t have much time in between hotel and airport openings to do the mundane things like signing contracts and winning awards. There are only so many hours in the day.
We just can’t believe Cristiano thought the Clark Kent-style glasses disguise would work on us.
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