Huge events of any kind are known to be quite tedious especially when it comes to the amount of money required to fully organise. We can very much attest to it first-hand after the recently concluded Vifaa Tech Festival. So you can imagine the stress that sports events that take months really require. This is the same case for the ongoing Euros 2020 tournament that has had lots of entertainment on the pitch but has had to get lots of partners for that.

However, as many other football tournaments have done previously, the Euros seems to have already attracted some drama off the pitch and this had to do with the sponsors involved.

This began when Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo was summoned for the post-match press conference after a thrilling 3-0 win against Hungary and rightly so as he had just been awarded Star of the Match after scoring two goals.

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What would have just been just a normal boring Q&A session turned into a global conversation as Cristiano moved the two Coca-Cola bottles from his reach and out of the camera frame. This was after reports came out of the huge financial implication as the beverage company lost up to $4 billion of its market value in a matter of hours after this. Of course, it is known how much of a fitness icon CR7 is and fizzy drinks are definitely far from being part of his diet. And it was clear what he meant when he showed his bottle of water shouting “Água (water). No Coca-Cola”.

This seemed to be a thing now among footballers during post-match conferences as about two or three hours later France’s Paul Pogba seemed to have just watched Ronaldo’s clip. This time the Heineken bottle on the bench was the victim being removed from the table altogether and placed on the floor. But then again, it can be understood as a message of his stance against alcohol consumption based on his Islamic faith. A day later, it turned into a recurring event with Italy’s Manuel Locatelli doing the same after scoring a brace against Switzerland.

As you would expect, many went on to praise the players for their actions against these products. Some were not as pleased though asking why they had to smear dirt on brands that had simply paid millions of dollars to UEFA for product placement during the course of the tournament.

So, you can guess how heated conversations have been for the past couple of days among social media users with one half advocating for the players and the other standing strong for the two brands.

But what won our hearts was the users who chose to take this lightly and make funny reactions to both clips. To some, Pogba and Ronaldo were not trying to send any messages other than passing the bottles to those who might need them.

This one won… ? ? ? pic.twitter.com/kWyPab8TFP

— Road Alerts (@RoadAlertsKE) June 18, 2021

No one knows the truth,
not even Coca waale !! #Rjgarvit#CristianoRonaldo #portugal #eurocup #euro2021 #munich #coke #meme #ronaldococacola #ronaldo #pagboheiniken #cocacola #cr7 @Cristiano @paulpogba #Cristianofans #cocacolamemes #eurocupfootball #feelitreelit #cocacolashare pic.twitter.com/c3P1jDbxSs

— RJ Garvit (@garvit_shr) June 17, 2021

This is why Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba rejected the Coca Cola and Heineken ?pic.twitter.com/MgyNNCCYsv

— www.KRAKS.co (@KraksTV) June 17, 2021

What seemed like actions that would cause financial problems turned out to be good opportunities for others. A couple of other players saw the saga as a chance to do the exact opposite and ask for endorsement deals from Coca-cola and Heineken. Scotland’s John McGinn was not shy to ask for the bottles during his press session. Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku followed suit by asking Coca-cola to call his agency Roc Nation for a deal. Ukrainian forward Andriy Yarmalenko never held back as he literally pulled the Heineken and Coca-cola bottles closer to his frame and told them to contact him.

'Please contact me, Coke and Heineken!'

Yarmolenko is all of us ?

(?: @EURO2020) pic.twitter.com/Bm3HcVC7Tq

— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 17, 2021

"Coca-Cola, call Roc Nation. We can work together."

Romelu Lukaku doing business for Jay-Z at the EUROs ?

(via @EURO2020) pic.twitter.com/DCR43qge8m

— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 18, 2021

John McGinn having a laugh about Cristiano Ronaldo removing the coca-cola bottles from his interview..

? "Any coke?"

???

? @footballdailypic.twitter.com/JowIUGDvJH

— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) June 17, 2021

So, there is no doubt that we will be seeing more footballers showing their funny reactions to the drama and many will either follow Cristiano way or choose to ask for deals. Either way, it is all still a cause for good laughter in a tournament that has certainly promised lots of entertainment. What is clear is that we can’t all be as influential as Cristiano Ronaldo to cause a company to lose $4 billion overnight.