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The internet was awash with tearful fans bidding farewell to Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo who announced this would be his last FIFA World Cup after his team was eliminated in a nail-biting match against arch-rivals Spain on Monday.

Danish Taimoor, who had been posting about Ronaldo’s successes throughout the tournament, posted a heartfelt farewell to his hero, saying, “I started watching football because of you. I grew up with your matches, celebrated your goals like they were my own, and felt every defeat as if it belonged to me.”

But wait, said a few sharp-eyed users on X. Ronaldo hasn’t been around nearly long enough for Taimoor, whose IMDB says he is 43 years old, to have grown up seeing him on his TV screen. The footballer is two years younger than him.

So, unless Taimoor could see into the future as a child, netizens found the line a bit misleading to say the least.

Memes followed soon after, with users making fun of apparent continuity errors in Taimoor’s message.

A couple of people also found it a bit strange that Taimoor posted a picture of himself instead of his hero to say goodbye.

One user incredulously pointed out the song on Taimoor’s post — ‘Channa Mereya’ by Arijit Singh. 

He wasn’t the only celebrity to wax rhapsodic about the footballer online, but he definitely got the most attention for his tribute.