Football
WATCH : Cristiano Ronaldo instructs referee to cancel his team’s penalty during AFC Champions League encounter
Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr dropped their first points in the 2023-24 AFC Champions League.
On Monday night at the Al-Awwal Park, during Al-Nassr’s last AFC Champions League match versus Persepolis, Cristiano Ronaldo displayed incredible sportsmanship that drew notice.
In the second minute of his team’s 0-0 Asian Champions League match with Iranian team Persepolis, the 38-year-old fell down due to a challenge. However, Ronaldo went and told that the Chinese referee Ma Ning’s penalty should be reversed after she issued it. After being directed to the pitchside monitor, Ning eventually modified his call.
Ronaldo’s integrity and the video assistant referee worked together to save Persepolis. In the seventeenth minute, Ali Lajami of Al Nassr was sent off, and the game ended goalless.
Given that, one could think that Ronaldo could have been apprehended in any event. But one never really knows what may happen with VAR, so it was noble of him to acknowledge that and attempt to get the decision against him reversed before the software was ever put to action.
Prior to the encounter in Riyadh, Al-Nassr had already become eligible for the knockout stages. After five games, the Saudi Pro League team leads Group E, five points clear of second-place Persepolis.
Few people on the earth have achieved the heights of football like Ronaldo. He holds the record for most goals scored for his country in international competitions. The striker is a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or.
Ronaldo doesn’t want fake penalties ?? A Goat I Stan pic.twitter.com/lksGqU1mzx
— J A D E S O L A (@1blackafrican) November 27, 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo’s epic 2023-24 season
Many may have anticipated that he would remain relatively unknown following his relocation to the Saudi Pro League last year. Since then, he has greatly increased the league’s popularity, and several more well-known athletes have joined him throughout the Middle East.
Ronaldo hasn’t let that rivalry stop him from performing; following the most recent round of games, he is now the top scorer with 15 goals after 13 games.
Even at this later phase of his professional career, he keeps trying his hardest. He scored one goal along with an assist for his country during the November international break. The skipper led Portugal to qualifying for Euro 2024 next summer with nine goals in 10 games.
