Dubai's Madame Tussauds to swap Cristiano Ronaldo's 'wrong' jersey for Man United strip

Waxwork was already being made when football superstar made the move to the Red Devils from Juventus

A waxwork of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is unveiled at the newly opened Madame Tussauds in Dubai, on October 18, 2021. AFP

Dubai's Madame Tussauds will soon change the shirt on the Cristiano Ronaldo wax figure after online complaints the Portuguese footballer was wearing the "wrong" jersey.

London's renowned waxwork museum opened this week in Dubai – its first outpost in the Arab world – with Ronaldo's wax figure donning the striped black and white shirt of his previous team, Italy's Juventus.

In August, Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in the English Premier League on a two-year contract with an option to extend that deal by a further season.

"With the ever-changing, fast world of sports where players regularly move teams, fans of Cristiano Ronaldo will be excited to hear that his wax figure is being updated with his new Manchester United jersey very soon," the museum said in a statement to AFP.

"Each figure at the attraction has been captured in a moment of time and resembles an iconic part in their history."

A number of British and Portuguese media outlets had noted the 36-year-old footballer star at the museum was wearing the "wrong shirt" of Juventus, the team Ronaldo left after three seasons.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner first made his name on the world stage in six years at United between 2003 and 2009.

The mix-up is by no means the worst affront to Ronaldo's image, however.

That came in 2017, when a bust of the star was unveiled at the Cristiano Ronaldo Airport in Funchal, Madeira.

Although Ronaldo said he was "honoured" by the gesture, sculptor Emanuel Santos was widely mocked for the outcome, which featured the player making a cartoonish grin.

In 2018 he recrafted the bust, which received mixed reviews.

Madame Tussauds Dubai - in pictures