For seven months, a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo travelled 13,000 kilometres from China to Saudi Arabia in order to see the Al-Nassr player.
According to the South China Morning Post, Gong, 24, left Anhui on March 18 and met Ronaldo at Al Nassr Football Club on October 20. Gong went to Beijing in the north first, then to the west. WION reported on his trip from Xinjiang to Riyadh, Ronaldo’s headquarters, via Kazakhstan, Georgia, Iran, and Qatar. His superfan recommended riding a bicycle to Riyadh after CR7’s February illness forced him to postpone his trip to China.
Gong brought along a tent, two power banks, clothes, cooking supplies, and other essentials. During his seven-month tour, Gong had to deal with language barriers, dining in countries with expensive food, and exhaustion from riding his bike so far.
He overcome these obstacles by utilising translation software to communicate with people and eating just bread at upscale places. Gong claims that a high temperature caused him to collapse on the road in Armenia in August, but the hospital provided him with free medical care.
The fan had to wait a few days to meet Ronaldo because he was in Europe when he landed in Riyadh on October 10. Gong saw Ronaldo play live for the first time thanks to tickets a fan provided him to the Al Nassr vs. Al Shabab game. He was promised a one-minute fan meeting by the personnel.
Gong claims that Ronaldo gave him a hug and shook his hand after a challenging hike. In addition, he signed a banner with the names of Gong’s friends and a comment, as well as an Al Nassr No. 7 shirt.
