On Tuesday, after earning their first Portuguese title since Ronaldo was on the brink of making his debut for the club before being swiftly snapped up by Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon fans were able to party like it was 2002.

Skipping through the streets and letting off flares, some of them made their way to a road outside the apartment where Ronaldo's mother, Dolores Aveiro, had watched the game, resplendent in the green and white colors and even, in one photo, carrying a grumpy-looking cat in a team scarf.

Aveiro's remarks to the fans, telling them that she would bend her son's ear for a return to the newly-crowned champions who he briefly represented as a teenager, made for a snappy soundbite.

The footage could also have been interpreted the actions of a woman keen to deter stragglers from standing outside her home shouting, but they were enough to earn a response, a couple of days later, from Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes, who presumably has had to deal with a wearying number of hopeful calls from journalists about Ronaldo's potential homecoming.