False: No, Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't converted his hotels into hospitals to combat coronavirus

In times like these, fake news regarding gestures provided by players to combat a crisis can be prevalent and, often, untrue.

Cristiano Ronaldo is often a 'victim' of such social media campaigns. Ronaldo is unquestionably a philanthropist and regularly donates money to good causes - indeed just this week he visited children in a hospital in Turin and made a financial contribution.

But on 15 March a story begun trending worldwide that Ronaldo had decided to transform his chain of hotels in Portugal into hospitals to help combat the coronavirus crisis.

Mais uma fake news. Isto não é verdade. Mas porque é que os jornalistas não fazem o trabalho da forma como aprenderam (confirmar as informações, o que dá trabalho) e só seguem o que surge em fontes não fidedignas? https://t.co/YzUGAoBw1x

— Filipe Caetano (@filicaetano) March 15, 2020

The story emanated from Spanish publication Marca and journalist Nuno Luz, who is thought to be close to the player, but is not a regular contributor to Marca.

As of now, the story has been removed from Cristiano Ronaldo's section on Marca's website and any social posts related to the story have been taken down.

Furthermore, neither Ronaldo - not one for missing an opportunity for self-promotion - nor his chain of hotels have made any kind of statement to this effect and you are still able to book rooms on Ronaldo's hotel website at the regular price.

Portuguese TV host Filipe Caetano says in the above tweet: "Another fake news.

"That is not true. But why do journalists not do the work they learned (confirm the information, that takes work) and only follow what appears in untrusted sources?"

Leaving aside the gigantic logistical issues of turning a hotel into a hospital, including the drastic difference in facilities, cleanliness and care, it seems that the story had no foundation whatsoever, and many supposed news sites are now in the process of hastily deleting their previous articles.

But not before the articles themselves have gathered a pile of traffic based on a totally erroneous report. It may well be that Ronaldo is planning something - but he is currently under quarantine as a result of team-mate Daniele Rugani testing positive for COVID-19. A story like this would be international news and a fantastic gesture. It's unlikely it would make its way into the public domain from a Spanish sports newspaper.

Not a single source in Portugal is currently reporting this story.

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