Ghanaian international Jonathan Mensah has uncovered how former Real Madrid defender Daniel Opare aided him to make a successful jersey swap with Cristiano Ronaldo after Ghana’s 2-1 loss to Portugal at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Defender John Boye gifted Portugal the lead when he turned a cross into his own net, but Asamoah Gyan headed in an equaliser.
Ronaldo capitalised on a poor clearance by goalkeeper Fatau Dauda to sweep home and give Portugal hope.
Despite the Black Stars exiting the tourney after the defeat to Portugal, Mensah made one of his most memorable shirt swaps with none other than Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Colombus Crew defender reveals it was Daniel Opare who had been with the Madrid Youth team prior to the mundial who approached Ronaldo and said ‘’my friend wants to change jerseys’’ which Ronaldo gladly accepted
“I was like ‘Can we change?’ and he was like ‘Yeah, sí sí! Sí, hermano!’, Mensah recalled. “I knew this guy, Daniel Opare, he was on our team and he played for Real Madrid youth and he knew him you know because Cristiano was on the senior team. So, he was on the World Cup team with Ghana and after the game he said [to Ronaldo]‘Oh, my friend wants to change jerseys’ and Ronaldo was like ‘Yeah sure, sure’’. Mensah recounted in an interview Columbus Crew official website.
‘’Then we just changed jerseys and it was like something casual.” He concluded.