Credit: Al-Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo was seen exhibiting frustration after his Colombian colleague Jhon Duran received a red card from a referee during the match between Al-Nassr and Al-Ettifaq of Saudi Pro League played at Al-Awwal Park on February 21. In the crucial contest, Ettifaq outclassed Nassr by a 2-1 margin and won their eighth game of the competition. For Al Nassr, it was the third loss in the tournament. In the match, the Al Nassr star player Ronaldo looked discontented after the forward was handed the red card. The 40-year-old was warned by his manager Stefano Piolo after the Portuguese failed to control his temper on the referee’s controversial decision.
Duran, who was roped in by Al-Nassr in January for a heavy sum of 64 million pounds, collided with Ettifaq’s stalwart Abdulelah Al-Malki, who grasped his head and started rolling on the ground. Malki’s action led to the referee taking stern action against the Al-Nassr striker. Ronaldo broke into the scene and requested the referee to not issue the red card but the latter didn’t get convinced and delivered his decision. Following the development, Ronaldo looked rankled as he threw his hands around, displaying his discontent with the linesman, and kicked the ball towards the stands.
Al-Nassr envisaging to appeal against the controversial verdict
Al-Nassr are pondering whether to appeal against the red card for their star player. After being handed the red-card, Durand is all set to miss his team’s next fixture against the bottom-placed team Al-Waheda. However, Piola delivered a balanced statement in the post-match press conference. The Italian criticised the actions of both his players, Ronaldo and Duran.
In his statement, Piola said, “I'm not happy with the red card, [but] our players have to be calm. We could have played better, but mistakes cost me a lot today and caused the loss. Today’s match started well and we took the lead, but what made the difference were the mistakes. Everyone is responsible for mistakes, I am the first one responsible for correcting mistakes and we do the work very seriously. We did not lose the match for tactical reasons, but because of the individual mistakes we made.”
