A night which was already exhausting for Cristiano Ronaldo and his Al Nassr turned even worse as Al Hilal fans mocked him with Lionel Messi chants in Al Nassr’s 2-0 defeat to Al-Hilal in Riyadh Season Cup Final. Here’s what happened on the night!
Al Hilal vs Al Nassr: An unmemorable return for Cristiano Ronaldo
Portuguese soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo missed most of the Riyadh Season Cup owing to an injury. Unfortunately for him, his comeback was marred by a mediocre outing by Al Nassr. The Riyadh-based club failed to score any goals as Al Hilal comfortably breezed past them with a 2-0 win. Goals from Sergej Milinković-Savić and Salem Aldawsari in the first half anchored Al-Hilal into a strong position. From there they controlled the rest of the game.
Cristiano Ronaldo-led Al Nassr attack tried its best to break down Al Hilal, but to no avail. Just back from a calf injury, Ronaldo, clearly looked uncomfortable and even missed two big goal scoring opportunities. He also looked progressively frustrated and isolated as the battle waged on. Al Hilal supporters took the opportunity to trouble the veteran even more, leading to an angry retort by Ronaldo.
Fans chant, Ronaldo retorts
The struggles of Al Nassr on the pitch were already bothering Portuguese soccer great when a section of Al Hilal fans decided to amp it up. A clip now viral on X, shows Al Hilal fans chanting the name of Messi as Cristiano Ronaldo plays on. Cristiano looked irked by the chants and finally retorted, “I am here…not Messi.”
Al Hilal fans continued to pile onto the veteran’s already forgettable night despite his angry reaction. A new video has emerged on X, which shows Al Hilal fans throwing their scarves at Cristiano and booing him as he made his way down the tunnel after FT. Ronaldo then proceeded to pick up one of the scarfs and pointed it towards his crotch before throwing it away. Many on X have quickly reacted to Ronaldo’s indecent action as inappropriate. However, his reaction after the hounding all night could be deemed as human.
Earlier, Portuguese soccer great Cristiano missed the opportunity to face off against Inter Miami and Lionel Messi in the Riyadh Season Cup. Lionel Messi and Inter Miami were on an Asia tour for their pre-season and the game between Al Nassr and Inter Miami was quite hyped up for the reunion of the two legends.
The 5 time Ballon D’or winner will look to redeem himself with a return in the AFC Champions League as Al Nassr take on Al Fayha on 14 February.