Grant Lehmann was working with clay when his Facebook feed filled with pictures of the much maligned statue of international football player Cristiano Ronaldo.



The odd-looking statue attracted attention at the opening ceremony of the airport named after the Portugal star in his hometown Funchal.

Cristiano Ronaldo was seen to laugh while unveiling the bust in March. ( Reuters )

Busy putting the finishing touches on two large sculptures for a local exhibition in his Toowoomba studio, Mr Lehmann decided to "right the wrong", even if it was just for his own benefit.



"The actual sculpture is almost a comical parody of him.

"He's a great athlete, and a sculpture should portray something special," he said.



"I know a lot of sculptors who would do a brilliant job.



"So I made a comment on Facebook, 'why did they pick that guy to do the sculpture?'



"Someone wrote, 'I'd like to see you do better', so I took it on as a challenge."



Within two hours he had something to share.

Grant Lehmann spent two hours on the sculpture. ( ABC Southern Qld: Peter Gunders )

"It's not a finished piece, but I think Ronaldo deserved a more distinguished, proud look," he said.



Unlike the official statue, Mr Lehmann's Ronaldo has enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive response.



"I know it's with a guy who works for the European Football Federation.

He's passing it around at the moment, and I got a reply from the Portuguese Tourism Board which said it was way better than the one at the airport," he said.



After Ronaldo, Mr Lehmann is happy to return to his own original work, but said if he was to do any other 'fixer-uppers', he could be convinced to turn his hand to another sporting great.



"It'll probably get me into trouble, but I've always wanted to do a really good Wally Lewis sculpture, I'll just leave it at that," he laughed.