Cristiano Ronaldo went 'full WrestleMania mode' as he was shown a red card for apparent elbow strike
Cristiano Ronaldo went 'full WrestleMania mode' as he was shown a red card for an apparent elbow strike in Al Nassr's defeat to Al Hilal.
Al Nassr lost 2-1 to rivals Al Hilal in yesterday's Saudi Super Cup semi-final showdown.
Salem Aldawsari opened the scoring just after the hour mark as Malcom doubled his side's lead moments later.
Trailing by two goals, frustrations boiled over as Ronaldo lost his cool and received his marching orders following an incident near the touchline.
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He raised his elbow at Ali Al-Bulaihi, who crumbled to the floor.
The match referee subsequently brandished a red card to the 39-year-old, who had to contain himself after his sending off.
With the ball in his hand, he almost punched it towards the referee until he thought otherwise. A wise move.
The clash between Ronaldo and Al-Bulaihi sparked a melee as former Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly ran over to support his teammate, while ex-Manchester City player Aymeric Laporte tried to calm things down.
As the former Manchester United star trudged off the pitch, he appeared to tell the crowd: "All of you are witnessing this robbery."
His move was likened to something straight out of WWE off the back of last weekend's blockbuster WrestleMania 40.
Sadio Mane, formerly of Liverpool, bagged a late consolation for Al Nassr as the tie ended 2-1, with Al Hilal advancing to the final.
Al Nassr manager Luis Castro was left seething with the decision to send off his star man.
"It is difficult to talk about the incident in which Ronaldo received the red card, and we saw several clips earlier in the season in which Ronaldo was provoked, and after seeing some of the pictures Ronaldo did not do anything that deserved to be sent off, and the opposing player acted," he said.
"The contact was small between Cristiano and the opponent’s defender. He made a play. The video referee was supposed to call the match referee to watch the clip of the expulsion."
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Football, Al Nassr
Nasir Jabbar