Whoever he’s playing for, Ronaldo is going to wear the number 7 shirt.
Ever since he joined Manchester United, the number has been synonymous with the Portuguese superstar. He did have to wait until Raul and Luis Figo bid farewell to Real Madrid and Portugal respectively before he was able to wear the number for them, however. But after nine prolific seasons at Real Madrid, winning five Ballon d’Or awards along the way, he was always going to be given the iconic squad number at Juventus. This meant that Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado had to give it up, but he didn’t mind at all, explaining that “it is better to give than receive.”
Cuadrado allowed his Twitter followers – most of whom are presumably Juventus fans – to decide which squad number he took. 153,000 votes later, a decision has been made.
The Colombian winger will wear the number 49 next season. It might appear to be a bizarre choice, but it makes perfect sense. ‘Cuadrado’ translates to ‘squared’, prompting Juve fans to choose the number that is the sum of seven squared.
Y ahora… ¿Qué número para próxima temporada? 🤔
E ora … quale numero?🤷🏾♂️ @juventusfc @PauDybala_JR 😂😂😂 #ForzaJuve
— Juan Cuadrado (@Cuadrado) July 13, 2018
Genius, right? It’s not the most glamorous number by any means, but at least there is some interesting logic behind it.
Cuadrado also included the number 10 on the list of options, which might have been a bit ambitious given the fact that Paulo Dybala current wears that number. The Juve hierarchy won’t have been best pleased if Cuadrado had requested to take the number 10 off their star player.
But thanks to Cuadrado’s Twitter followers, they won’t have that problem.
