An armband discarded by the soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo after being denied a match-winning goal during a World Cup qualifying match against Serbia last month has recently been sold on auction at €64,000 (K59,390,720).
In the heated moment, the Portuguese midfielder stormed off the pitch, moments before the match ended in a 2-2 draw, angrily tossing his captain’s armband to the ground.
The item was spotted and picked by local firefighter Djordje Vukicevic who was on duty at the march which took place in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade.
“Ronaldo was agitated and he threw the armband. It fell right next to me,” Djordje told the BBC.
Djordje decided to donate the unwanted item to a local charity group to be put up for auction.
The sizable amount raised through the auction was put towards helping six-month-old Gavrilo Djurdjevic who needs to undergo treatment for incapacitating spinal muscular atrophy a genetic disorder caused by a loss of specialized nerve cells, called motor neurons.
“We could not believe that some people who do not even know us would take the armband, auction it and help our child,” Gavrilo’s relieved mother, Nevena, says.