Everyone is melting over how these kids reacted to Cristiano Ronaldo

Now we like to think of ourselves as manly men at SportsJOE Towers.

We watch scary films late at night and sleep with the light off afterwards. Proper hard cases. However, even our steel hearts were turned to mush upon witnessing how these kids reacted to a mere flash of a smile from Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese is often depicted as arrogant and aloof in the media, and perhaps for good reason, but he regularly shows a genuine kindness and sweet nature towards fans. He is particularly generous when it comes to children, and is famously philanthropic towards his younger supporters. The Real Madrid superstar had the weight of a nation on his shoulders throughout the tournament, and yet was very genial and accommodating to the numerous pitch invaders who got close enough to him for a cheeky selfie. But it seems that even a quick smile can leave his biggest fans in dreamland. These two young mascots were clearly as pleased as punch to be placed so close to their hero ahead of Sunday's final, and were beaming up at him in disbelief as the teams lined up for their national anthems before the big game got underway. A focused and no doubt nervous Ronaldo noticed the pair and reciprocated their excited expressions with a gentle smile of his own. It may have been no great shakes to him, but the wonderful reaction of the disbelieving duo was ridiculously cute... It's safe to say that the adorable moment won Ronaldo - and his new friends - even more fans around the world... https://twitter.com/iSupportRMadrid/status/752581950876057600 https://twitter.com/Amina_Dz24/status/752626045644398597 https://twitter.com/sincerpalvin/status/752660729224843264 https://twitter.com/Haizealzola11/status/752791456121774080