In a heated moment during the Saudi Super Cup semi-final, Cristiano Ronaldo received a red card for what seemed to be an elbow strike.
The match, which saw Al Nassr fall 2-1 to Al Hilal, escalated when Ronaldo, apparently overcome by frustration, clashed with Ali Al-Bulaihi. The altercation led to Ronaldo’s ejection from the game.
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As Al Nassr trailed, Ronaldo’s temper flared, culminating in a contentious encounter with Al-Bulaihi.
The referee responded by showing Ronaldo, aged 39, the red card, a decision that Ronaldo initially struggled to accept.
In the aftermath, Ronaldo restrained himself from acting out further against the referee.
Meanwhile, the incident incited a scuffle on the field, with Kalidou Koulibaly rushing to his teammate’s aid and Aymeric Laporte attempting to defuse the situation.
As the former Manchester United player trudged off the pitch, he appeared to tell the crowd: “All of you are witnessing this robbery.”
Ronaldo’s move was likened to something out of WWE off the back of last weekend’s blockbuster WrestleMania 40.
Ronaldo went full WrestleMania to see a red card as Al Nassr was knocked out of the Saudi Super Cup in the semis. The Ronaldo team is also 12 points behind a Neymar-less Al-Hilal with just seven games to go pic.twitter.com/lGblDWsL1R
— Eric Njiru (@EricNjiiru) April 9, 2024
Sadio Mane, once a Liverpool player, scored a last-minute goal for Al Nassr, but it wasn’t enough as they were defeated 2-1 by Al Hilal, who moved on to the final.
The expulsion of their key player left Al Nassr’s coach, Luis Castro, visibly frustrated with the referee’s decision.
“It is difficult to talk about the incident in which Ronaldo received the red card, and we saw several clips earlier in the season in which Ronaldo was provoked, and after seeing some of the pictures Ronaldo did not do anything that deserved to be sent off, and the opposing player acted,” he said.
“The contact was small between Cristiano and the opponent’s defender. He made a play. The video referee was supposed to call the match referee to watch the clip of the expulsion.”
