Veronika Ricksen, the wife of former Rangers and Zenith midfielder Fernando Ricksen, has recounted how Portuguese football ace Cristiano Ronaldo helped the couple.
According to one of her tweets, the encounter likely took place in the autumn of 2016, when Ronaldo was still playing for Real Madrid. In the photo, Real Madrid President Florentino Perez can also be seen standing next to Fernando Ricksen, who is accompanied by Veronika and their daughter, Bella.
Isabella dream comes true 😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/YvJdISRVVp
— Veronika Ricksen (@RicksenVeronika) 18 октября 2016 г.
"We went to Madrid and had a meeting,” Veronika told Russian sports channel Match TV.
When asked whether Cristiano had helped Ricksen after the meeting in any way, Veronika said he gave a “sweaty jersey” to the girl as a gift. “[He] took it off after the game, gave it away and left,” she added.
She also recalled how an “old man from FIFA” pledged to set up a charity foundation to help her husband until the end, but failed to do anything. Veronika then clarified she was referring to Sepp Blatter, a long-time FIFA president who stepped down amid a corruption scandal in 2015 and is now serving a six-year ban from football.
The family apparently suffered an embarrassing moment at the hands of Diego Maradona. Three years ago, they travelled to Fernando’s native Dutch town of Heerlen at the invitation of the Argentinian legend, who was expected to show up at an event.
However, Maradona never arrived, according to Veronika, despite the Ricksen family spending nearly a week at a hotel waiting for him.
But she is adamant that that unlike such vows, Fernando Ricksen cannot be broken easily.
Ricksen, 42, is battling with motor neurone disease. He is being treated at St Andrew's Hospice in Airdrie not far from Glasgow – and his ordeal is very likely to end there.
Veronika says her husband was visiting Scotland over a weekend for a meeting with fans, but suddenly felt sick and had to be hospitalised. After a two-month treatment, the doctors said he could not return to Spain, where he was living with Veronika and Bella, because of his ailing respiratory system.
His wife and daughter visit him every month, but there’s another important meeting around the corner.
The former Netherlands player will make his “final appearance” on 28 June at a fundraiser at a Glasgow hotel. The former footballer swiftly dispelled rumours that this would become his “final day” and promised to keep fighting.
Fernando Ricksen: "I would like to emphasize on the fact that June 28th will be my final public appearance. In other words: I do NOT have the intention to make it my final day. I will continue fighting, the rest of the battling is just going to happen out of the limelights."
— Vincent de Vries (@therealvdv) 10 июня 2019 г.
His wife said that he doesn’t want euthanasia and decided to arrange the final charity event because it’s “really difficult for him to hang for five to seven hours around people who try to touch, hug, or photograph him”.
