Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo bizarrely raised his arm after Scott McTominay’s injury-time winner against Omonia Nicosia on Thursday, puzzling onlookers.
Ronaldo, who scored his 700th club goal in last week’s 2-1 win over Everton, started in the UEFA Europa League clash against Omonia at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese star had a few decent chances to score but failed to find the back of the net, seeing two of his efforts saved by Omonia keeper Francis Uzoho.
Having failed to breach Uzoho’s resistance in regulation time, United finally got their breakthrough through McTominay in the third minute of added time.
The Scot capitalized on Jadon Sancho’s deflected effort to fire past Uzoho from eight yards out. Ronaldo was right in front of Uzoho when McTominay dispatched his effort. And, as pointed out by the Manchester Evening News, he bizarrely raised his arm as the ball went in.
The gesture is generally used by players when they appeal for offside. As McTominay’s shot zipped close to him on its way in, it was possible that Ronaldo was checking whether or not he had interfered in the play.
The goal stood, allowing United to escape with a narrow 1-0 win against the Cypriot outfit. After four rounds of fixtures, United find themselves in second place in the Group E standings with nine points.
- Erik ten Hag ‘frustrated’ with Man Utd stars after late Omonia win
- Eric Bailly snubs Ronaldo as he names the two players that blew him away at Man Utd
- Van Dijk tells Liverpool teammates how to stop Haaland ahead of Sunday clash
However, the reaction from Ronaldo didn’t last long before he begun to celebrate with his teammates, but there’s little explanation as to why he held his hand in the air facing where the linesman would be standing.
The ball appeared to be fired near him where he could have been stood in an offside position, so maybe he was looking to prompt the linesman as he felt sorry for the opposition goalkeeper, who didn’t deserve to be on the losing team.
Meanwhile, La Liga side Real Sociedad are currently leading the pack, courtesy of their 100% record in the European competition thus far (12 points from 4 matches).
