Cristiano Ronaldo shushes the fans after they chant Messi’s name
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr played against Al-Ettifaq in the Round of 16 of the Kings Cup of Champions. This game happened one day after Lionel Messi was awarded his 8th Ballon d’Or. Al-Ettifaq fans took advantage of this to try and throw the Portuguese star off his game.
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Al-Ettifaq fans chanted Messi’s name in the game. This tactic has been used several times by rival fans before. However, this coming just a day after Messi won the Ballon d’Or, it seemed to affect Ronaldo more than usual.
Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to reply to the Al-Ettifaq fans by shushing them and telling them to calm down. This looked out of character for the Portuguese international. Ronaldo usually does not seem affected by the rival fans trying to put him off his game. This gesture, however, clearly appeared to affect him.
Ronaldo appears to ask for the referee to be substituted
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr managed to edge past Al-Ettifaq with a narrow 1-0 win. This goal came after Ex-Liverpool star Sadio Mane managed to score in the 107th minute of the game to give Al-Nassr the lead. This goal turned out to be the deciding goal in the Round of 16 match between Al-Nassr and Al-Ettifaq. Al-Nassr won the game 1-0 and progressed to the next round.
Ronaldo, however, was not at his best throughout the game and had some questionable moments. Apart from shushing the Al-Ettifaq fans, Ronaldo appeared to ask for the referee to be substituted. This came after the referee took two controversial decisions right before the end of the 1st half.
Anderson Talisca managed to score Al-Nassr, but the goal was controversially ruled offside as Cristiano Ronaldo was deemed to be offside. Minutes after this, Anderson Talisca was shown a red card by the referee for violent conduct. Ronaldo was not a fan of this and appeared to gesture for the referee to be substituted.