McGregor hoping his old pal Ronaldo can deliver (Picture: Getty/Mark Robinson
Conor McGregor has put down a huge bet on Cristiano Ronaldo to scoop the Golden Boot at Euro 2024 which could see him bank close to £1million.
At 39 years of age, the football legend made more history when he started Portugal’s opening group game against Czech Republic on Tuesday night, becoming the first player to feature in a sixth European Championship having debuted in the competition back in 2004.
Ronaldo, who now plays for Saudi side Al-Nassr, already holds the record for most European Championship goals with 14 to his name – with UFC star McGregor backing him to considerably add to that tally over the coming weeks.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star looked lively as Portugal fought back to secure a 2-1 win on Thursday night with McGregor revealing his betting slip during the match.
The Dubliner has stuck 60,000 on Ronaldo finishing top of the scoring charts and while the slip did not revealed if the bet was in British Pound Sterling, American Dollars or Euros, he will bank 900,000 should Ronaldo come out on top – not a bad sum in any denomination.
Duel Bits, the app advertised on McGregor’s betting slip, features betting offers in American Dollars, suggesting McGregor’s stake stands at just over £47,000, which would bank him over £707,000.
McGregor wrote: ‘60 G’s on Cristiano to retain his Euro Golden Boot. Siuuu!’
McGregor revealed his betting slip on Tuesday.
Last October, McGregor and Ronaldo were ringside to watch Anthony Joshua’s fight against Otto Wallin together in Saudi Arabia together at ringside.
While Ronaldo failed to get on the score sheet on Tuesday night, he will have ample opportunity to get off the mark with Portugal among the favourites to win the Euros In Germany this summer.
Ronaldo couldn’t get on the score sheet (Picture: Uefa)
The Euro 2016 winners return to action in what promises to be a thrilling group stage scrap against Turkey on Saturday before facing Georgia next Wednesday.
Ronaldo bagged five goals in the last edition of the competition, all coming in the group stage with Portugal eliminated at the first knockout round.
The veteran had his chances to score on Tuesday night, watching his header come back off the post with Diogo Jota’s follow-up effort ruled off for outside.
‘‘I know everybody will always expect him to score goals. Sometimes he scores, a lot of times he scores! Today he was very close,’ Diogo Dalot, a former club teammate of Ronaldo’s at Manchester United said.
‘Obviously, you can see in the game that he played how much he ran today. He helped us with and without the ball he was always moving, energetic and that’s the Cristiano that we want.’