Edinburgh man on moment he came face-to-face with Ronaldo stuck in traffic

Cristiano Ronaldo spotted in blacked out Range Rover at traffic lights
-Credit: (Image: David Tanner)


An Edinburgh dad has told how he came face-to-face with legend Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday night.

David Tanner, 52, a Napier University lecturer and broadcaster for talkSPORT, was heading home from Hampden after Scotland's clash with Portugal when the chance encounter materialised.

David was picked up in a taxi when he noticed a young man sprinting up the hill. He said: "I thought they must be late for a train but we managed to swerve around him and when we got to the top of the hill, he actually got there before us because he was running so fast.

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"He looked like someone who was either running for a train or from the police, but he got to the top of the hill where there was a Range Rover with blacked out windows and he chapped on the window and the car drove off and I though oh, that was odd."

David's cab caught up the youngster who was insistent on the occupant of a luxury SUV to roll down his window. They stopped at the next set of traffic lights and David clocked on that it was Ronaldo hiding in the backseat of the chauffeured Range Rover.

David Tanner was covering last nights game on talkSPORT radio station
David Tanner was covering last nights game on talkSPORT radio station -Credit:David Tanner/Instagram

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His attention now captivated also, David recalled: "The blacked out window finally went down and there he was. There was that perfectly familiar and perfectly coutured hair and these young guys who looked in their early 20s just thrusted strips and match programmes into the car where he politely signed them.

"At that point I thought... I' m gonna get his autograph for my son. I quickly hunted for a sharpie pen and my match programme and thrusted it in the car and I shouted obrigado and then he smiled, the window went up, the lights went to green and they drove off".

David Tanners signed match programme from Cristiano Ronaldo
David Tanners signed match programme from Cristiano Ronaldo -Credit:David Tanner

"It was a very much smash and grab but I saw the chance and took it."

David said he was able to interview Ronaldo when he first made his debut for Real Madrid, working for Sky Sports at the time. He recalled how the star was "very charming and business-like."

He said he regretted not getting an autograph or a selfie for the socials he was many years away from signing up to and said: "It was good to put that right in a fleeting moment at a set of traffic lights in Glasgow. I've told my son Felix if I see that autograph up on eBay, he's in trouble".

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