With five Ballon d'Or wins, eight league titles, five Champions Leagues, a European Championship and a pair of Nations League triumphs among his glut of honours, Cristiano Ronaldo's status as one of football's all-time greats is not in doubt. But a chance encounter with the Portugal legend helped Wales boss Craig Bellamy appreciate that the 41-year-old is significantly more than just a footballing icon. Bellamy was on a pre-season trip to Lisbon during his time as an assistant to manager Vincent Kompany at Burnley when the Portuguese capital's airport was effectively put into lockdown.
It led to the Welshman describing Ronaldo as "beyond a superstar" after he realised the vast presence of police and security officials were to help escort the global icon. "So we got to the airport and the police were everywhere. It was on lockdown," Bellamy said.
Ronaldo spurred on by 1,000 goals and Portugal glory Live on BBC iPlayer, BBC One Wales, BBC Sounds, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru and 5 Live, BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary. "We're Burnley and we had a little bit of VIP. We were on a coach, we were chartered but still had to go into the airport a certain way.
"It was like rows of police with police cars everywhere. We thought, 'something has happened, there must be a warning here'. "Everything was locked off.
People in the terminal, you name it. We couldn't get off the coach and we had to wait for what we thought was a security breach or something. "We are stuck on the coach for 10, 15 minutes and suddenly this car turns up, it parks and a guy walks out, goes in the boot, grabs a rucksack and someone else gets out and puts the rucksack on and who is it?
Ronaldo." Bellamy added: "He is walking on his own with police everywhere and Lisbon airport locked off. Even the police were taking pictures. "It was the coolest walk I have ever watched for a minute.
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