On Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo gave an invaluable Christmas present to Liam Alves, 8, the son of his former Real Madrid colleague Marcelo

In a touching Instagram post, Alves—who was born in 2015—expressed his gratitude to the Portuguese star after receiving an autographed shirt from his father’s former teammate for Christmas.

Cris, I’m reаlly аppreciаtive. Whоа, yоu meаn the wоrld tо me. аlves wrоte оn Instаgrаm, “Yоu аre my idоl @cristiаnо.” Rоnаldо аnd Mаrcelо hаd оne оf the best pаirings оf аll time while plаying left wing fоr Reаl Mаdrid, а cоnnectiоn thаt lаsted frоm 2009 tо 2018.

Rоnаldо mаde fаst friends with the Brаziliаn аfter mоving tо Mаdrid in 2009 аs а recоrd-breаking deаl. During teаm phоtоshооts аnd trаining sessiоns, the twо wоuld plаy prаcticаl jоkes оn eаch оther аnd hаd а gооd time.

Together, they scored 33 goals in 332 games played on the pitch. Marcelo scored eight goals while Cristiano Ronaldo provided twenty-five.

But Ronaldo left Madrid in 2018 after nine years of excellence and legend, and he spent three years with Juventus.

The two remain very close and hold each other in high regard, even though they haven’t played together in nearly six years.

The fall of Marcelo began with Ronaldo’s departure, and the club quickly filled the left back position with newly acquired players such as Ferland Mendy and Sergi Reguilon.

The Brazilian won the UEFA Champions League and La Liga in 2022, but he didn’t play much that season before leaving the club like a legend.

After a mutual contract expiration in November 2022, the 38-year-old left Manchester United and joined the Saudi Pro League in January.

A lot of people thought the Brazilian would go play for his former teammate in the Gulf, but he ended up returning to Brazil and is now a member of Fluminense FC.

Ronaldo opted to return to Brazil, according to the defender, despite their conversation about a possible transfer to the Middle East.

Marcelo and Ronaldo discussed this earlier. It wasn’t enough that I had plans to leave Al Nassr; I also felt the desire to get back to my homeland of Brazil. It seemed like I had to return, for some reason,” Marcelo stated, as cited by GOAL.