He may be one of the greatest footballers to have ever played the game, but Al-Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo has been caught mouthing off to the referee in an expletive tirade after the Portuguese forward had a goal disallowed during a recent Saudi Pro League tie.
Since making the switch in January, Cristiano Ronaldo has quickly become the manicured face of the emerging Saudi Pro League.
Upon his arrival, Ronaldo’s been making the headlines by throwing shade at Lionel Messi and the quality of the MLS, as well as claiming that the Saudi Pro League has the potential to become one of the Top 5 leagues in the world after seeing the recent investment in players.
A criticism that’s always directed at Ronaldo is the low quality of the Saudi teams.
But now the Saudi Pro League is slowly becoming one of the more competitive leagues in the world after the Al-Nassr forward encouraged a whole host of Europe’s best players to join him in the Arabian Peninsula on multi-year, multi-million dollar deals.
His plan certainly worked, with Saudi’s top five clubs – Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, Al-Alhi, Al-Hilal and Al-Ettifaq – all fielding teams worthy of Europe’s top competitions on the opening date of the new Saudi Pro League season.
WATCH Cristiano Ronaldo’s expletive rant at a referee in the Saudi Pro League below.
But there’s still one thing that Ronaldo seemingly cannot influence, and that’s the standard of refereeing within the league.
During a recent league win against Al-Shabab, Ronaldo had a headed goal disallowed by referee Ismail Elfath for apparently pushing an opposition player just moments before finding the back of the net.
The Al-Nassr captain was furious, screaming at Elfath: “Always against me! F***ing hell!”
Ronaldo’s side still went on to win the game 4-0 after being awarded three penalties by Elfath throughout the game; the Portuguese forward converted twice from the spot and gifted the third to Abdulrahman Ghareeb, who failed to score.