Thousands of Cristiano Ronaldo supporters mobbed an unsuspecting bride at her wedding outside Funchal Cathedral on Saturday, after rumours wrongly suggested the football star was marrying Georgina Rodriguez in Madeira.
The wedding was actually for Fabio Ramos and Fatima Nicole Cunha Teixeira, a couple living in France who returned to their homeland to marry. They have no connection to Portugal's and Real Madrid's all-time leading scorer.
Priest confirms mix-up
Father Marcos Goncalves, the parish priest who officiated, said: 'I can tell you that they are nothing to do with Cristiano Ronaldo. This is the only wedding taking place here today.'
Ronaldo's older sister, Elma Aveiro, responded to footage of the large crowd with a social media post: 'But why do these people think Ronaldo would get married, when he himself never announced it, anyway? Don't they realise that the media doesn't know anything, they just want to know?! And then they invent things. Surreal.'
Fans swarm bride's car
The grey Rolls-Royce carrying the bride struggled to reach the cathedral due to the crowd. Hundreds of fans swarmed the car, believing the bride was Georgina. A wedding guest shouted, 'This is not Georgina!' to disperse them.
One member of the wedding party said: 'Fabio is not Cristiano Ronaldo. This is all crazy. We did not expect anything like this. I don't think he is going to forget his wedding.'
Ronaldo finds it funny
Ronaldo appeared to see the funny side, responding to Jornal da Madeira's post of the crowds with laughing face emojis.
Ronaldo had previously told Piers Morgan that he and Georgina planned to marry after the World Cup. The 41-year-old made his sixth World Cup appearance this summer, as Portugal were eliminated by eventual winners Spain in the last 16.
'I hope to arrive at my wedding with the champion's trophy,' Ronaldo said. 'I'm going to marry her because I believe it's the right time. Not just because she's the mother of my children but because she's the person I love most.'
The pair met in 2016 when Georgina was working at a Gucci shop in Madrid. However, in an interview last month, Ronaldo's sister Katia Aveiro said no wedding date had been set for 2026: 'There's no set date. This year I won't be wearing a wedding dress, neither for myself nor for him.'
