Cristiano Ronaldo had an international airport renamed in his honor on Wednesday but it was a newly unveiled bust of him that soon became a major talking point.

Five thousand screaming fans, the Portuguese talisman himself and the country's prime minister and the president were all in attendance at the airport of Madeira, the island where Ronaldo was born.

"To see this airport bear my name is a very special thing," said Ronaldo, 32, who skippered Portugal to victory in the European championships last year.

"Everyone knows I am proud of my roots."

Real Madrid star Ronaldo, speaking at a naming ceremony also attended by his family, added: "I didn't ask for this but I'm not a hypocrite and I acknowledge that it honors me, and that makes me happy."

Also presented was a grinning bust of one of the greatest footballers of all time.

It squashes his eyes close together, and the cheeky raised-eyebrow smile more resembles a leer. The face is also unusually chubby, in contrast to Ronaldo's chiseled looks.

The bust's sculptor, Madeira native Emanuel Santos, said it took him 15 days to create the statue. He said he presented the project to local officials when it was about half done and received the go-ahead to continue with his work.

"It's always a great honor to work on project like that," Santos told local television channel RTP. "I still haven't had the chance to personally talk to (Ronaldo), but I'll try to reach out to him to know his feedback."

Social media users were quick to mock the statue as nothing like him and even horrifying.

"Seriously, I look more like Cristiano Ronaldo than that bust," said the Twitter user DiscoHobbit.

The BBC called the bust "bizarre".

Ronaldo already has a museum and bronze statue in his honour in his birth town of Funchal.

He follows in the footsteps of Northern Ireland legend George Best, who also wore the number seven shirt in his time at Manchester United and had Belfast airport named after him.

Portugal played their first match in Madeira since 2001 on Tuesday, going down 3-2 to Sweden.

Ronaldo's 71st goal for his country in the defeat saw the striker go level in third place with German Miroslav Klose in the list of Europe's all-time top international goal scorers behind Hungarian duo Sandor Kocsis and leader Ferenc Puskas.