Juventus Superstar and Portugal International, Cristiano Ronaldo and agent Jorge Mendes have donated €1 million to help three intensive care units in Portugal in their fight against coronavirus.The pair’s donation will go towards buying crucial equipment for ICUs at Lisbon’s Santa Maria Hospital and the Santo Antonio hospital in Porto.
Similar donations have been made on Tuesday by Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola.Guardiola has donated €1m for the purchase and production of essential medical supplies and equipment in Barcelona, with Messi reportedly matching that figure with a pledge to the Hospital Clinic, also in Barcelona.
“We were contacted by Jorge Mendes, who volunteered with Cristiano Ronaldo to fund two intensive care units for critically ill patients with Covid-19,” Santa Maria President Daniel Ferro said.“There are fans, monitors, infusion pumps, beds, all the equipment that makes up an intensive care unit equipped to provide assistance to a patient infected with Covid-19,” he said.
The president of the board of Centro Hospitalar Universitario do Porto, Paulo Barbosa, laid out exactly how Ronaldo and Mendes’ contribution would help the ICU.“This unit will allow the opening of 15 intensive care beds, fully equipped with fans, monitors and other equipment,” Barbosa said.
“The Centro Hospitalar Universitario do Porto thanks Cristiano Ronaldo and Jorge Mendes for this very useful initiative, at a time when the country needs everyone so much,” he said. Mendes had already provided 1,000 masks and 200,000 protective gowns to the Sao Joao hospital in Porto last week as well as ordering eight further ventilators to be distributed to hospitals across Portugal.
As well as Ronaldo, Messi and Guardiola, a number of footballing stars have made significant donations in the fight against coronavirus. Ronaldo’s former manager at Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho, was among a number of volunteers helping charity Age United Kingdom and community group Love Your Doorstep pack and deliver parcels of food and essential items to elderly residents in north London.
Robert Lewandowski and wife Anna have donated €1m to charity, while the Pole’s Bayern Munich team-mates Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka donated €1m between them to a ‘We Kick Corona’ fundraiser the pair helped to start.
That was on top of their contributions to the German national team’s €2.5m donation to WirHelfen (WeHelp), another fundraising organisation in the country.
Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld has taken a focused approach, pledging to donate “dozens” of tablet computers to hospitals and care homes so people in isolation can video chat with family and friends.
