Did Cristiano Ronaldo say he loves Islam?

Hyderabad: A photo of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo giving an interview to a burqa-clad woman is being widely shared on social media. It is being claimed that the footballer, during the interview, said he loves Islam.

Several Facebook users shared the photo and wrote, "When a Muslim woman from Saudi Arabia asked what he loves most, Cristiano Ronaldo said I love Islam." (Translated)

(Click here and here to see more posts.)

The claim comes after Ronaldo joined Riyadh-based Saudi Arabian football Club Al Nassr FC.

Fact Check

NewsMeter ran a keyword search to find out if the footballer had made such a statement but we did not find any news reports.

On performing a reverse image search of the viral photo, we found it in an article published by Khaleej Times on 28 January 2022. According to the article, the photo shows Ronaldo at Expo 2020 Dubai. It said Ronaldo talked about fitness, his advice for the young generation, and his love for Dubai during the interactive session held at Al Wasl Plaza.

The Expo was held in UAE from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.

We found the video of the interactive session on the Expo 2020 Dubai website. It was conducted by Marjan Faraidooni, the chief experience officer of the Expo. In the video, Ronaldo speaks about his love for Dubai, his children, parenting, fitness, etc. But he did not say anything about his love for Islam.

It is evident that the Portuguese footballer never said that he loves Islam the most. Hence, we conclude that the claim is false.