Cristiano Ronaldo has made his feelings about refereeing clear during the highly anticipated encounter between Al Nassr and fierce rivals Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League.
This top-of-the-table clash, which took place on Friday night, put Ronaldo in the spotlight once again, but it wasn’t just his on-pitch prowess that caught the attention of fans .
As the teams returned to the locker rooms at half-time, Ronaldo, sporting the captain’s armband since his arrival in December 2022, approached the referee to express his concerns about the disparity in yellow cards handed out.
Leading the match 1-0 at that point, the former Manchester United striker was clearly unhappy with the refereeing. The footage shows Ronaldo confronting the referee, saying: “We received three yellow cards.
Al Hilal has zero.”
With frustration visible on his face, he added as he walked away: “Be fair to both teams!” The remark underlines Ronaldo’s belief that their three first-half warnings, compared to none for Al Hilal, were unfair.
As well as Ronaldo, former Liverpool star Sadio Mané and Marcelo Brozovic were also booked by the referee, while another yellow card was shown to Abdullah Al-Khaibari just after the break.
Notably, it was only at game time that Al Hilal received their first booking, with Malcom being penalized, and moments later, Mohamed Kanno joined the referee’s book of warnings.
The match itself saw Al Nassr take the lead in the first minute, thanks to a Talisca strike, while Al Hilal equalized in the 77th minute through Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, leaving the match expertly balanced .
As the match progressed, Ronaldo must certainly have been keen to increase his tally, as he currently ranks as the third highest scorer in the Saudi Pro League this season with six goals to his name. In pursuit of the golden boot, he trails Al Ittihad’s Karim Benzema, who has eight, while former Fulham striker Aleksandr Mitrovic leads the way with ten goals.
Last season, Ronaldo showed his scoring ability by winning the golden boot, scoring an impressive 35 goals in 31 appearances.
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