Cameras and microphones captured Cristiano Ronaldo’s eruption of anger after his peculiarly disallowed goal for Al Nassr.
The Portuguese forward drew substantial focus during his team’s commanding 4-0 victory in a home league encounter against Al-Shabab on Tuesday. Ronaldo initiated the scoring by confidently converting a penalty kick after an opposing defender was deemed to have committed a handball inside the box.
Ronaldo was subsequently awarded a penalty himself after being fouled within the penalty area. He capitalized on the opportunity, once again directing the ball into the exact same corner, this time from a distance of 12 yards, propelling his team to a 2-0 lead.
Demonstrating his multi-dimensional contribution to the game, Ronaldo orchestrated another goal by delivering a well-timed pass to former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane, who calmly slotted the ball past the goalkeeper.
As the match progressed, Argentine midfielder Ever Banega received a direct red card for a severe tackle, and the victory was sealed when Sultan Al-Ghannam capitalized on a rebound after Ronaldo’s header struck the post.
Despite being significantly involved in all four goals for his team, the 38-year-old was evidently displeased with an incident that unfolded during the first half of the match.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s furious reaction to disallowed goal
A corner swung in by Marcelo Brozovic, with the scoreline at 1-0, found the head of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and was guided into the top corner of the net with relative ease for a man of his quality.
Thinking he had doubled his side’s advantage, Ronaldo was soon sent into a state of disbelief as his strike was disallowed for a foul in the lead up to the goal. Having consulted the VAR monitor, the referee had decided there was a push from the striker on a player attempting to defend the corner.
Referee disallowed this Ronaldo header 👀 pic.twitter.com/Zm0qiQLA9Q
— Sean Gillen (@SeanGillen9) August 29, 2023
While there was certainly a hand on the chest before the ball came into the box, replays showed that the defender in question had actually just stumbled backwards and collided with his own teammate, rather than being pushed by Ronaldo. Upon the decision being made, the Portugal international was far from happy as he could be seen to shout in the direction of the official: “Always against me!” followed by an expletive.
🚨 Cristiano Ronaldo: “Always against me!”
pic.twitter.com/h3Gc7irSt2— TC (@totalcristiano) August 29, 2023
In this case it is very easy to see the frustration felt by the player, who was also seen to aggressively kick a bottle at the side of the pitch before staring down the assistant referee.
The way he looked at the ref after kicking the bottle 😭 pic.twitter.com/TY7vzQsQHE
— Z (@zeleLUHG) August 30, 2023
Al Nassr manager gives his thoughts on VAR error
Ronaldo was not the only one left reeling by the baffling decision, as his manager – Luis Castro – said after the game, viaSportskeeda: “Why did the referee disallow Cristiano’s goal? In the Saudi League I saw a similar case: there was a stronger push than the one we saw today, but the referee validated the goal. I won’t say more, but everyone saw it.”
Castro was clearly left questioning the officiating, just as the player was, and it has not reflected well upon the referee and the VAR officials. It is yet to be seen if there will be any comment made on the matter by the relevant people to clear up the matter or offer an apology to Al Nassr and Ronaldo himself.