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By Teddy Cutler

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Jesus cries three times in the course of the Bible, most famously in John 11:35, the passage which gave rise to the cliche, "Jesus wept."

Cristiano Ronaldo cried at least as many times during Sunday's UEFA Euro 2016 final between Portugal and France, after he was forced off the pitch early on in the game through injury.

And His sister, pop singer Katia Aveiro, thinks Ronaldo's suffering was comparable to Christ's on the Cross.

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"These tears I cried for my wounded brother were like daggers to the heart, and we all cried with him for the awful pain we had together,' she wrote on her Instagram account.

"But God is great and just as our saviour Jesus Christ suffered on the cross for a better world for us, Cristiano cried in the pain of not being able to help his teammates and his beloved people.

"But God is just and they deservedly lifted the trophy, and fulfilled the dream; we are champions."

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Assim como desafias as leis da física quando fazes aqueles golos de cabeça e que ninguém sabe explicar, ontem esta imagem prova que um pai nunca deixa o seu filho sozinho na maior das aprovações da vida ..e mais uma vez aqui fica a prova que tu és especial tu desafias a lei da humanidade tu és meu irmão ..obrigada por este momento chorei ctgo choramos ctgo ..mas o pai jamais te abandonaria na tua maior hora de dor e sofrimento ele sabia o quanto querias este troféu ....eu sei que quem te confortou naquele momento foi o nosso pai ele queria tanto como tu esta taça para o nosso país ....queria que deixasses a tua marca e conseguiste meu irmão ..Contra tudo e contra todos ...orgulho que não cabe no peito ..sofremos mas valeu a pena ..#euacrediteiatéaofim 🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹

A post shared by Katia Aveiro (@katiaaveirooficial) on Jul 11, 2016 at 6:06am PDT

A cynic might suggest dying in a heroically stolid manner of thirst and starvation in order to save the sins of the world might matter slightly more than missing out on a football final. Even a major football final of extreme importance.

Still, all's well that ends well, for Ronaldo if not for Jesus and humanity. Having delivered rousing team talks at half-time and at the end of 90 minutes, the Real Madrid star whipped his shirt off, of course, to celebrate Portugal's first-ever international tournament victory with his teammates.

"Jesus wept" indeed.

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