Messi, Ronaldo donate to hospitals in Spain and Portugal to help them cope with coronavirus

Cristiano Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes will donate three intensive care units to Portuguese hospitals to help them cope with the coronavirus pandemic, local health officials said on Tuesday.

The Portuguese pair will donate to at least two institutions and will give “two intensive care units”, with a “capacity of 10 beds each” to the University Hospital Centre of Northern Lisbon (CHULN), a group of hospitals in the country’s capital city, a spokesman told AFP.

Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic said it had received a donation from FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi to help it fight the virus. “Thank you Leo, for your support and commitment,” the hospital added in a tweet.

While the hospital did not say how much money the player donated, Catalan sports daily Mundo Deportivo said it was one million euros.

Mendes and Ronaldo will also donate a unit to the Santo Antonio Hospital of the University Hospital Center of Porto.

“This is a very important investment that includes more than a dozen respirators and other necessary equipment,” Eurico Castro Alves, director of the hospital’s surgery department, told newspaper Jornal de Noticias, adding the unit would bear their names.

“If necessary, Cristiano Ronaldo would like to do the same in Madeira,” he added.

Juventus forward Ronaldo has returned to his home island, which has 11 confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of the 2,362 in Portugal. The country has recorded nore than 30 deaths. He was visiting his mother, who is recovering from a stroke, when he was placed in confinement after Juve team-mate Daniele Rugani tested positive.

The local authorities said on 12 March Ronaldo showed no symptoms.

Spain has been one of the worst-hit countries, logging the third highest number of deaths with the latest toll standing at 2,696, and the total number of infections nearing 40,000.

With AFP Inputs