Cristiano Ronaldo needs to step up his game, jokes Motherwell’s Bevis Mugabi after stunning header

Motherwell’s Bevis Mugabi is enjoying the comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo after his stunning header against Ross County.

It was calculated that the Ugandan leapt an incredible 75cm off the ground to head home – 4cm higher than the five time Ballon d’Or winner managed for his famous header for Juventus against Sampdoria.

The measurements were determined by studying different camera angles and Motherwell’s social media posts gained significant traction as Mugabi received praise.

The 25 year-old was in a jovial mode as he laughed about contacting Ronaldo to inform him of his accomplishments.

“He’s a very competitive guy so I might need to drop him a DM and say, ‘bro you need to up your game.’

“I’m not really a social media person but my phone has been blowing up and going non-stop since Wednesday – it’s been a bit scary!”

Asked whether the former Manchester United star would be watching videos of Mugabi for tips, he joked: “He better be! It’s also nice to get compared to one of the greatest of all-time and being able to jump as high as him is mad.

“It’s a nice thing to have but I was more happy with the result than the goal.”

It was a stunning header as Mugabi leapt and hovered in the air before powering a bullet header into the back of the net.

The amiable 25 year-old admitted he was completely unaware how high he’d jumped until he started to receive some love from his brothers in their Whatsapp chat.

Mugabi said:”I didn’t even realise if I’m honest, at the time I wasn’t aware how high I jumped. Apparently I did { jump higher than Ronaldo}.

“After the game, my brothers were messaging me saying I’d leaped and I didn’t even know. I was just so focused on the ball, where it was going to go and where I was going to direct it.

“Obviously, when the goal was put up on Motherwell’s twitter and Instagram, everybody was saying ‘wow you’ve jumped like a fish – like a salmon actually,’

“It was just funny at the time but it completely blew up when they compared it to Ronaldo.”

At the apex of his leap, Mugabi reached an incredible 262cm off the turf – 6cm more than Ronald – but this was no fluke, it was through dedication and training.

The former Southampton academy player has devoted hours on the training ground and gym to enhance his physical characteristics and he hopes to add more goals to his game – if, he quipped, the delivery is accurate.

Mugabi added: “I’ve always had a good leap but nobody’s had the chance to see it. I work on it in the gym by doing box jumps and I’m always trying to add to my game.

“I always try to enter every game being as fit as possible – sprinting the fastest, jumping the highest or recovery runs.

“I’ll try on the end of more crosses – if Jake {Carroll} puts the ball in the right areas. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be jumping as high as Ronaldo again though!”

Grant Russell, Motherwell’s head of digital and communications, explained that it was an extensive process to quantify the extent of Mugabi’s lead.

The ‘Well’s graphic designer Alistair Reilly played a pivotal role in helping the team utilise their technological resources to verify the precise height of Mugabi’s jump as Russell details.

He said: “We saw on Sportscene that they’d clocked Bevis as jumping over the height of the crossbar – they put a rough estimate of 2.5 metres.

“We had a conversation on Friday morning and thought about a way that we could measure it. There were the four camera angles that the league provided plus three of our own, high-quality cameras around the pitch.

“We found a way to pull all those angles together to get a definitive answer. It came down to the work of Alistair Reilly – our graphic designer – who put all his expertise to good use to figure out the highest point of Bevis’ jump.

“To get the right height, he had to determine how high over the bar Bevis had jumped.

“So, amongst other things, he figured out the relative distance between the goal posts at each end, the opposition defenders and the distance between when Bevis was standing still and at the apex of his jump.

“We then brought Bevis in and measured him. We actually thought he was 193cm but it turns out that he is 187cm. We also measured Bevis’ head, the diameter of the match ball and the diameter of the goal posts.

“We knew that the distance between the ground and the underside of the bar is 244cm because that’s regulation across the board.

“We measured absolutely everything required to reach the correct measurement – we are very confident.”

The image posted on Motherwell’s social media accounts went viral and was picked up by media accounts across the globe including the reputable Sky Italia.

The Steelmen are renowned for their innovative and engaging media content and Russell admitted the Ugandan defender deserves all the adulation that he has received.

He said:”It’s a bit of fun at the end of the day to compare Cristiano Ronaldo’s jump against Sampdoria, which was so lauded, with one of our players.

“We wanted to celebrate that one of our own players had performed better on this occasion. We think Bevis deserves it, he’s a great guy and it was a great goal.”

Despite all the Ronaldo comparisons, the importance of Mugabi’s winning goal against Ross County can’t be overlooked.

It handed the Steelmen their first win since October, their first under new manager Graham Alexander and remarkably, it was the first points they’ve rescued from a losing position all season.

Motherwell’s determination and mentality to withstand some late pressure in Dingwall was noticeable as Alexander’s decision to pick the same defence and goalkeeper for the fourth consecutive game paid dividends.

Mugabi said: “We were buzzing to win because it was a massive result for us and we were able to turn a scoreline around.

“The goal was important but I took more pride in how we were able to defend after that. Liam Kelly was coming for crosses and Stephen O’Donnell, Jake {Carroll} and Declan {Gallagher} were putting their bodies on the line.

“The way we came together as a team to see the game out was more satisfying for myself.

“It’s always nice to have a consistent partner. It allows you to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We can bounce off each other and that’s only going to improve the more we play with each other.”

The former Southampton youth player has formed a strong central defensive partnership with captain Declan Gallagher.

The Scotland international has declared his admiration for his teammate and Mugabi is more than happy to accept his nickname as the ‘Ugandan Prince.’

He confidently revealed:”Deccy keeps calling me that but it was Peter Hartley, our old captain, who started it last season.

“He must have taken it off him and it’s stuck with me but listen, I’ll take it because I’m not a bad looking guy.”

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