Cristiano Ronaldo’s pushed aside two Coca-Cola bottles during a press conference at the European football championship to exhibit his strong dislike for sugary drinks, an incident that went viral on social media. Soon after this, a whopping $4bn was wiped off the market value of the global cola giant as its share price crashed.

The Portugal captain, a renowned health enthusiast, made it clear what he thinks of the carbonated soft drink. Within seconds of sitting down, the footballer shifted the bottles of Coca-Cola away from him during a press conference in Budapest on Monday in the prelude to his country’s Group F game against Hungary.

Also read:  World Test Championship Final winner takes home $ 1.6 million and mace

Ronaldo followed it by holding up a bottle of water before declaring in Portuguese: “Agua!” (water), appearing to encourage people to prefer that to Coca-Cola. The video of the whole episode was shared widely on social media. 

The incident came as a major setback to Coca-Cola which is one of the official sponsors of Euro 2020 . The company’s stock price dropped from $56.10 to $55.22 per share almost immediately after Ronaldo’s gesture, a 1.6% decline. The total market value of Coca-Cola crashed by $4 billion from $242 bn to $238 bn, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper.

Also read:  Vinoo Mankad inducted in ICC Hall of Fame ahead of World Test Championship final

A Euros spokesperson said: “Players are offered water, alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences.” Everyone “is entitled to their drink preferences”.

The international superstar has a staggering 300 million Instagram followers which made the news spread like wildfire.

On Tuesday, he scored twice in Portugal’3-0 win over Hungary surpassing France great Michel Platini as the record goal scorer at the European Championship finals with 11 goals.

Video Link: Cristiano Ronaldo snub wipes billions off Coca-Cola’s market value