Cristiano Ronaldo was once again on the spotlights in Al Nassr Kings Cup clash against Steven Gerrard’s Al Etiffaq, MySportDab reports.
Cristiano Ronaldo lost his his cool with the match referee, Maza, towards the end of the first half of the match.
In a rare incident that raised eyebrows, the Portuguese star could be seen in a viral footage asking for Maza to be subbed off the game after he chalked off Talisca’s opener for Al Nassr.
Talisca turned in the goal towards the end of the heated clash to give Al Nassr the lead. The goal was previously awarded by Maza.
But he was later summoned by VAR for a review. On taking a second look on the goal, Cristiano Ronaldo was found to be offside when Talisca scored the goal hence the goal was chalked off.
Reacting to Maza’s decision to erase the goal, Cristiano Ronaldo went furious and signalled with his hands that Maza should be subbed off the game.
Ronaldo’s contention of the referee’s decision was another rare show of rage of by the Portuguese in a live match.
His reaction has been deemed unessential as Maza took the decision after a VAR review of the goal.
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Despite the setback to the Riyadh-based club, Sadio Mane later came up clutch for Al Nassr lscoring a decisive stoppage-time goal that separated the tie and restore Al Nassr’s lead.
They ran out with a narrow 1-0 win after the final whistle to book a ticket to the round 8 of the competition.
Save the VAR Controversy, the match was marred with clashes between the players. Talisca was later sent off after VAR review of his challenge on Al Etiffaq player saw his yellow card upgraded to red.
Al Ettifaq were also reduced to 10 men and Cristiano Ronaldo had to thread carefully to avoid a second booking after being slammed with a yellow card as well.
