Erik Lambrechts had the opportunity to arbitrate an al-Nassr match last weekend, in Saudi Arabia. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a splendid goal … and congratulated the Belgian summary!
Erik Lambrechts is back from his trip to the Middle East. There, he directed, with three Belgian colleagues, the match between Al-Nassr and Al-Riyadh; A great opportunity before finding the Jupiler Pro League next weekend.
Al-Nassr won the 2-1 match, thanks in particular to a phenomenal goal by Cristiano Ronaldo, who was elected man of the match with two goals. “The bizard is that at halftime, I told my assistants that he was not that good in this match. But in the end, Al-Nassr wins and he marks a double”.
-Has the goal of CR7 impressed Lambrechts? “To be honest, it is only when I saw the images that I made how impressive it was. Sometimes you live this kind of moment a little more intensely, like when Haaland scored during my first match of Champions League, but not this time, strange”, explains the Belgian referee Newspaper.
Cristiano Ronaldo, however, marked him for another reason: his respect. The Portuguese came to congratulate him at the end of the match. “He congratulated me on my refereeing, and also removed the opposing players who protested during the match,” said Lambrechts. “It is unexpected on his part, but pleasant”.
The Belgian was not “impressed”, however, to cotoy such a superstar. “I have never really had any idols, so that doesn’t really impact me to be next to such a star,” he said.
