What is Cristiano Ronaldo Bust?

A photo-based meme built around a bronze bust of soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo that looked almost nothing like him, unveiled at Madeira Airport in March 2017.

Where did Cristiano Ronaldo Bust come from?

The bust, sculpted by Emanuel Santos, was unveiled on March 29, 2017 at the ceremony renaming Madeira's airport in Ronaldo's honor.

What does Cristiano Ronaldo Bust mean?

The joke centers on the gap between the sculpture's lumpy, wide-jawed face and Ronaldo's actual well-groomed appearance, with edits placing the bust onto famous monsters like Sloth from The Goonies.

How do you use Cristiano Ronaldo Bust?

People typically share side-by-side photos of the bust and Ronaldo, or photoshop the bust's face onto other characters known for looking unsettling.

Is Cristiano Ronaldo Bust still popular?

The meme peaked in 2017 during the initial airport ceremony and briefly returned in March 2018 when Santos unveiled a redone bust that drew renewed attention on Twitter.

Cristiano Ronaldo Bust

2017image macroclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Cristiano Ronaldo Bust is a 2017 Twitter meme built around a botched bronze sculpture of the Portuguese soccer star, unveiled at Madeira's airport by artist Emanuel Santos. Its lumpy face and small eyes looked almost nothing like Ronaldo, and photos of him posing beside it triggered a wave of photoshops within hours.

photoshop memes football memes fail memes so bad its good memes unwilling celebrity memes

Overview

Cristiano Ronaldo Bust is a photo-based meme built around a bronze sculpture of the Portuguese soccer star that looked almost nothing like him1. The likeness had a squared jaw, undersized eyes and lumpy features, and it appeared during the March 2017 ceremony renaming his hometown airport in Madeira1. Photos of Ronaldo posing next to the sculpture created an instant before-and-after gag that spread within hours3.

The joke worked because the bust stood beside the real Ronaldo at the unveiling, giving press photographers a ready-made contrast shot1. Users treated the sculpture as generic monster material, pasting its face onto famous villains and characters known for looking unsettling1. Ronaldo's public grooming and image obsession added to the humor of the mismatch3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Creator

Emanuel Santos

Date

2017

On March 29, 2017, Ronaldo attended a ceremony at Madeira International Airport, which was being renamed Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo in his honor3. Local sculptor Emanuel Santos had produced the commemorative bronze bust, which was unveiled with Ronaldo standing beside it1. Within hours, Twitter user @tds153 posted a side-by-side photo captioned "I defy you not to feel better after viewing this picture of Cristiano Ronaldo alongside his portrait bust," which pulled in more than 2,800 retweets4.

▶

Watch Video

How It Spread

By the afternoon of March 29, the Cristiano Ronaldo Bust was a trending Twitter topic3. Editors photoshopped the sculpture's face onto Ronaldo's body, then mashed the bust into pop-culture nightmares like Sloth from The Goonies, Han Solo frozen in carbonite, Batman's Two-Face, BioShock's Andrew Ryan and the clown from IT1. The Verge dubbed the mangled piece "Calamity Ronaldo" and compared the reaction cycle to the 2012 Botched Jesus Fresco1.

Mainstream outlets ran roundups within 24 hours, including The New York Times, Buzzfeed and The Daily Dot3. Emanuel Santos was interviewed about the reception and asked for a chance to try again3.

Exactly one year later, on March 29, 2018, sports account @brfootball posted a video showing Santos alongside a second, more accurate Ronaldo bust2. The tweet drew more than 37,200 likes and 15,700 retweets in its first 24 hours, and a Twitter Moments page collected the reactions under the headline "Artist who made meme-able Ronaldo bust finds redemption in a do-over"3.

How to Use This Meme

The Cristiano Ronaldo Bust meme is typically shared as a side-by-side image pairing the sculpture with a photo of Ronaldo or a stylized character. A common convention swaps the bust's face onto other figures to draw a comparison to villains or monsters.