Are you a big Real Madrid fan thinking of attending one of the club's preseason friendlies being played around the United States later this summer? Would you trade an arm for a jersey signed by the entire team?
One 11-year-old boy in England did just that — literally. Well, sort of. Charlie Silverwood still has his left arm, but it will be in a cast and sling for probably four to six weeks.
Silverwood, a schoolboy from Dorset, suffered the broken wrist during a preseason friendly between Championship club Bournemouth and Real Madrid last Sunday. A free kick, struck with much venom, missed its target and made a beeline into the crowd behind the goal, and for little Charlie's face. Naturally, he threw a hand up to stop himself losing his two front teeth, and instead fractured his wrist in two places.
Who for Real Madrid is in charge of taking free kicks and smashing them with serious power, you ask? Well, of course that's Cristiano Ronaldo. Feeling bad about what happened, as someone with a heart inside his body would, Ronaldo organized a full squad shirt-signing for Charlie as a way of apologizing and compensating the young boy.
There you go, Madridistas, your foolproof plan to walk home with a jersey signed by the entire Real Madrid squad.
MLSsoccer.com does not actually recommend this, nor condone this memorabilia-acquiring tactic.
