Ronaldo visits family of Mexico earthquake victim

Cristiano Ronaldo paid tribute to a young fan who was killed in the Mexico City earthquake last month by meeting his family in Madrid.

Santiago Flores Mora was one of the 19 children that perished in the rubble of an elementary school which collapsed in Mexico City following last month’s earthquake that killed 358 people.

He was a big fan of Real Madrid and Ronaldo, as his mother explained in an emotional letter on Twitter two days after the tragedy and on the day Santiago would have turned seven years old.

In that letter the mother described that her son dreamed of meeting the Portugal captain one day and regretted that while Santiago was alive she did not give “importance to the love her son felt for Ronaldo.”

Madrid treated Santiago’s parents and younger brother Leonardo to a tour of the Santiago Bernabeu last weekend, while club president Florentino Perez handed a team jersey with Ronaldo’s No. 7 to the boy’s father.

The visit also included a meeting with Ronaldo and other Madrid players. Ronaldo was aware of Santiago’s tragic story and had last month replied to the boy’s mother on social media.

He had posted a photograph of himself holding a Madrid jersey with the message “to my No. 1 fan, Santiago.”

Santiago’s father thanked Madrid and Ronaldo for honouring his son’s memory and said on Real Madrid TV: “The club invited us and this is a present that we got thanks to our son who had a special admiration for Cristiano and for Real Madrid.”