Uganda defender Bevis Mugabi has confessed he was not aware he had broken Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous 8ft 5-inch leap record while playing for Motherwell.
The 26-year-old jumped an inch higher - at 8ft 6in off the ground - to score in the Scottish Premiership clash at Ross County in 2021 to break Ronaldo’s record of 8ft 5in set while playing for Juventus against Sampdoria in the 2019 season.
“I honestly didn’t have an idea that I had done it until after the game when my brother called me and said I had jumped high but at that time I wasn’t really focusing on that as my aim was to get three points for the team,” Mugabi said, as per Fufa official website.
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“I am happy it was the winning goal and got the vital points that we needed at that time.”
Mugabi, who is currently with the Cranes for the Fifa international break, has further revealed his decision to extend his contract with Motherwell.
“I decided to stay with the club because of the loyalty they showed me when I first came to Scotland,” Mugabi continued. “First and foremost, they believed in my ability even when I wasn’t playing well and that is the reason why I probably decided to stay and develop further as a player and a person.
“But most importantly it was about playing games consistently. I believe I made the right decision to stay at the club.”
On his transfer switch from Yeovil to Motherwell in 2019, Mugabi said: “It was a big change moving from England to Scotland. I left behind my family but I had to grow as a person, adapt to a different environment, culture, people, and style of play.
“It wasn’t a very easy transition but I am happy I made that step with the aim of trying out something different and I can’t complain.”
Mugabi, who stands at 1.88m when he lines up in the backline, picked Liverpool’s Sadio Mane as the toughest player he has ever faced.
“Senegal’s Sadio Mane during the 2019 Afcon tournament in Egypt when we lost 1-0 in the last 16 stage,” Mugabi said.
Born in Harrow, England, the lanky defender started his football journey at Southampton football academy before joining the now fifth division English side Yeovil Town.
He was summoned for the first time by Uganda coach Sebastien Desabre in 2018 and played in two international friendly games against Malawi and Sao Tome and Principe at Namboole Stadium.
Uganda are preparing to face Uzbekistan in a friendly at Markaziy Stadion on Tuesday.
