Cristiano Ronaldo meets Tsunami victim he helped 11 years ago

Ronaldo met him last time in 2013 to see how he was progressing

Cristiano Ronaldo has met with the Tsunami victim he had helped back in 2004 after the Tsunami tragedy occurred in Indonesia 11 years ago.

The Portuguese star, who is in training with his national team this week, caught up with the 17-year-old Martunis who was one of the very few survivors from the post-Boxing day Tsunami disaster which had taken the lives of over 230,000 people. The Indonesian lost his entire family (mother and two brothers) in the calamity and was left all alone for 21 days before he was finally rescued by the relief team.

Martunis, aged 8 back then, was found wearing A Seleccao colours as he had a Portugal replica jersey on him which had Manuel Rui Costa’s number and that caught Ronaldo’s attention as the Real Madrid star came forward to help the Indonesian. The 30-year-old took the responsibility on himself to rebuild Martunis' home as he build a fundraiser for him and raised a lot of money.

"I believe that many adults would not even be able to deal with what he has gone through,” was what the three-time Ballon d’Or said during then.

"We must respect him. His was an act of strength and maturity. He's a special kid."

Martunis was signed by Sporting Lisbon earlier this year

The young Indonesian also met his hero Ronaldo on a couple of occasions, once with his Portuguese teammates in 2005, when he insisted that he wanted to play for the Portugal national team, and on another occasion in 2013, when the Real Madrid talisman wanted to meet him to see how he was progressing.

And just a couple of months earlier, extraordinarily, his dream came true as Martunis was signed by Sporting Lisbon as a part of their youth academy. It was also the club where Ronaldo made his name as a world-class player which prompted Manchester United to sign the Portuguese superstar.

Speaking at his presentation in July, he said, "It's great to be here, this club makes my dream possible. I am incredibly excited about this opportunity."

After meeting Ronaldo at Portugal training, he posted a picture of himself alongside the Real Madrid man on Instagram with the caption: "Obrigado @cristiano, see you on Friday".

The international break returns this weekend as players resume their duties for their respective countries for international friendlies and Euro qualifiers. And Portugal take on France this Friday in a friendly game and Ronaldo is expected to captain his team in that fixture.