BS Detector: Ronaldo turns 40... or does he?

Updated 22/09/2016 at 07:02 GMT

Ronaldo was unarguably one of the greatest forwards to play the game but were all those birthday features a bit premature?

Former soccer player Ronaldo of Brazil attends the Champions League Group A soccer match where Paris Saint Germain face Real Madrid at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, October 21, 2015.

Image credit: Reuters

During his heyday with PSV, Barcelona and Inter Milan, Ronaldo was simply the best player in the world. He was the youngest player to win the Ballon d'Or, a record he still holds, and his goal-scoring record was without comparison.

It was quite understandable that a slew of articles were prepared to mark his 40th birthday on Sunday - but were they a bit premature?

Brazil's goal scorer Ronaldo (R) celebrates the second goal against

Image credit: Reuters

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Happy Birthday - or not?

This all started on Saturday September 17 when a number of outlets, including the Guardian, decided to publish their homage to Ronaldo in advance of his birthday on Sunday.

Ronaldo the Guardian tribute piece

Image credit: Eurosport

Then on Sunday more stories popped up from outlets like the Sun and the Daily Record, some paying tribute to him, others were just simple Twitter stories or with video clips of his greatest goals.

The Daily Record Twitter piece on Ronaldo

Image credit: Eurosport

The Sun Ronaldo tribute piece

Image credit: Eurosport

So surely that's that then?

Well you'd think so - but none of his former clubs actually put out anything honouring his birthday. Strange. It's hardly conclusive proof but given the stature of the player you'd expect some acknowledgement, right? Well technically there was some as the Twitter account for Barcelona did tweet a message of happy birthday, but it was swiftly deleted. Which was curious.

Thinking that his birthday is on September 18th would appear to be sound logic - after all that's what it says on his Wikipedia page, and when are they ever wrong?

Ronaldo English wikipedia page

Image credit: Eurosport

Well, this time they ARE wrong... until you look at his Brazilian Wikipedia entry, that is, which has his birthday as being September 22 - Thursday.

Ronaldo Portuguese wikipedia page

Image credit: Eurosport

Right, so his birthday is the 22nd then?

Well if you're confused and unsure then you're certainly not alone. The official Champions League Twitter account was one of the many to tweet a birthday message to Ronaldo on Sunday, even though last year they sent one on the 22nd...

Secondly, on his Wikipedia page there is a citation from "Ronaldo: The journey of a genius" by James Mosley who says that although Ronaldo was born on the 18th he wasn't actually registered until the 22nd. Although we can't stand that up.

Who can I trust?

Well, luckily for you, it's us. Eurosport has done some investigating and this Facebook post from Ronaldo in 2014 is the smoking gun: it's dated the 23rd, but when you take into account the time difference it's actually the 22nd, suggesting that is the true date of his birthday.

It's also worth pointing out that there wasn't really any coverage on Sunday in Spain, which seems out of character.