Friday night wasn’t just about football for Cristiano Ronaldo—it was about family, memory, and loss.
Playing for Al-Nassr in a high-stakes Saudi Pro League clash, the Portuguese legend scored a trademark header to double his team’s lead after Sadio Mané’s opener.
But what stood out wasn’t just the goal—it was the moment after.
Ronaldo, now 40, looked up to the sky, raised his finger, and appeared to dedicate the strike to his late father, José Dinis Aveiro, who died more than 20 years ago.
With his dad’s birthday just days away, the gesture carried even more weight.
Remembering a Father Gone Too Soon
José Aveiro passed away from liver failure in September 2005, when Ronaldo was only 20 years old.
This year, on September 30, the family will mark what would have been his 72nd birthday.
Despite the decades that have passed, Ronaldo has never shied away from expressing how much his father’s absence still shapes him.
He has used the football pitch as a place of remembrance.
Just last year, he dedicated a goal in the Asian Champions League to his father on his birthday, calling it “a goal with a different flavor.”
A Painful Memory on Camera
Ronaldo’s grief was laid bare in 2019 when he sat down with Piers Morgan.
During the interview, he broke down in tears after being shown a rare clip of his father speaking proudly about him before Euro 2004.
It was an emotional shock for Ronaldo, who admitted:
“I never saw that video. Unbelievable. I don’t know my father 100 percent.
He was a drunk person. I never spoke with him, like a normal conversation. It was hard.”
The forward revealed that while his mother and siblings were able to witness his career milestones and his children’s births, his father never got the chance to see any of it—not the Champions League triumphs, not the Ballon d’Ors, and not Portugal’s Euro 2016 glory.
The Struggles Behind the Man
Ronaldo’s father lived a tough life shaped by war and poverty.
A former soldier who served in conflicts in Mozambique and Angola, José returned home to little support.
Friends recall how he and other veterans struggled to find work or even food.
With few options, he turned to alcohol. “He had problems and didn’t have anything to eat, so he would turn to drinking,” one childhood friend told ESPN.
“His friends would buy him drinks. He didn’t have any money. He didn’t eat properly.”
Carrying His Father’s Legacy
Despite the struggles, those close to José remember his pride in his son.
Fellow veterans recalled how he would tell anyone who would listen that his boy would one day become the best in the world. He wasn’t wrong.
Now, each goal, each gesture, is part of Ronaldo’s ongoing tribute—a way of keeping his father’s presence alive, even in absence.
On Friday night in Saudi Arabia, the football icon showed that some moments on the pitch go far deeper than the scoreline.