‘We could not believe it’: Mother’s joy after Ronaldo’s armband, which he hurled after Serbia goal tantrum, is flogged at auction

The armband that Cristiano Ronaldo threw to the floor as he stormed off during a 2022 World Cup qualifier last week has been sold at auction in Serbia to support a campaign trying to raise around $3 million for a child's care.

Six-month-old Gavrila Djurdjevic, who lives in the village of Cumic, near to the city of Kragujevac in central Serbia, suffers from spinal muscular atrophy and needs the costly treatment.

His family will be given the proceeds after the armband sold for $75,000, although organizers told Tass that the total had reached around $12.7 million at one point before the astronomical early top bidders were found not to have the funds.

“We could not believe that some people who do not even know us would take the armband, auction it and help our child," Gavrilo’s mother, Nevena, told Reuters.

Quick-thinking on-duty firefighter Djordje Vukicevic picked up the fresh piece of memorabilia from the sporting icon, later deciding to donate it to Djurdjevic.

“Ronaldo was agitated," community-minded Vukicevic recalled. "He threw the armband. It fell right next to me. The entire crew agreed it would go [to help] little Gavrilo."

Raging Ronaldo discarded the strap after being infuriated by a farcical piece of officiating, when an assistant referee failed to spot that his shot, which would have earned Portugal a late win in Belgrade, had clearly crossed the line.

After Serbia hacked the ball clear, the disbelieving visiting captain raced over to the assistant on the near side to animatedly protest that the goal should have been awarded, receiving a booking from the referee, who Portugal boss Fernando Santos later claimed had apologized to him for the dreadful decision.

Santos's skipper then left the pitch seconds before the end, still clearly enraged as he chucked the band onto the pitch on his way off in an angry expression of his burning disgust.

Djurdjevic's mother said that the campaign had raised almost $600,000 so far.