Portuguese midfielder Bernado Silva has hailed Cristiano Ronaldo as the man behind the Portugal squad's decision to donate half of their Euro 2020 qualification bonus to help with the coronavirus pandemic. The Manchester City midfielder revealed that the 35-year-old national team skipper convinced his compatriots to give away a hefty part of the money in the team's WhatsApp group.
The Portuguese national team was due to play in this summer's UEFA Euro 2020 which has been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus and the success of the side was awarded a bonus. With the pandemic still persisting, players have played philanthropic roles towards causes that aim to offer relief to the affected. As a result, members of the Selecao took the initiative to donate a huge portion of qualification bonuses to assist their home country's fight and this, according to his teammate, was as a result of Cristiano Ronaldo's advice.
In a recent interview with Bleacher Report Silva was asked how Ronaldo behaved on WhatsApp after the Man City star's teammate Kyle Walker revealed that he sometimes removes the midfielder from group chats. With regards to his national team captain's attitude on the messaging platform, he said: "He's calmer.
"Actually he was the one, two or three days ago, that gave us the idea to donate our bonus. "So we qualified for the 2020 Euros, which now is in 2021.
"And he gave us the idea let's donate part of our bonus, so I think our national team, our players will donate 50 percent of our qualifying bonus.
"And yeah, he's been very active sending us messages, but not kicking people out like Kyle."
The donation made by Cristiano Ronaldo and his compatriots will go to the special fund created by the Portugal Football Federation Federation to help in providing financial relief for non-professional clubs during the coronavirus crisis.
