Luis Castro in defence of Cristiano Ronaldo after red card incident against Al-Hilal
Cristiano Ronaldo received a straight red card in the 86th minute of Al-Nassr’s Saudi Super Cup semifinal against Al-Hial. The veteran forward was judged of a serious foul play in the form of elbowing an opposition player. However, after the card was shown to him, Ronaldo seemed in utter disbelief and convinced of the fact that the opposition player had tricked the officials into taking a call against him.
The Al-Nassr manager Luis Castro has now emerged in defence of his star forward by labelling the card shown to the number seven as “incorrect”. The Portuguese manager isn’t convinced by the decision made by the match officials in the heat of the moment and vented his thoughts on it in his post-match conference.
“Ronaldo did not do anything that deserved to be sent off and the opposition player acted”, Luis Castro reportedly stated.
He further went on to convey-
“The decision was incorrect”. The Al-Hilal defender pretended that he was hit in the face, and it was a play on his part, and the contact was small”.
Luis Castro believes that the Al-Hilal players managed to utilise “Ronaldo’s provocation” against him. From his statements, it can be depicted that CR7’s red card was inadequate as the incident was deemed to look more nefarious by the opposing side than it was at that stage of the game. Al-Nassr were knocked out of the Saudi Super Cup as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Al-Hilal in the semifinal.
The earlier incident in Al-Nassr vs Al-Hilal match that aided in the second-half red card shown to Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo was quite disappointed after Al-Nassr’s opening goal against Al-Hilal was disallowed due to an offside offence. The 39-year-old was deemed to be judged in an offside position in an attempt to play the ball when the goal was scored. However, CR7 claimed and the replays showed that he didn’t get a touch on the ball but it wasn’t the main reason for the offside call was made against him.
Ronaldo was in close quarters to the match referee and was spotted hurling words towards him, claiming the eligibility of his side’s opening goal. Despite various attempts by the referee to tell him to get over it, the forward kept persuading and asking him for the decision being made. He was then joined by several other of his teammates but as the captain of Al-Naasr, Ronaldo was the centre of attraction in the protest.
It was since then the Portuguese forward grabbed the attention of the match officials after the initial heated argument. Fair to say that his foul and red card in the closing stages of the game was just an accumulation of how things went for him and his team in their crucial Saudi Super Cup knock-out clash against Al-Hilal held at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium as they crashed out of the competition.
Also Read: Cristiano Ronaldo Red Card: When will the striker return from suspension for Al Nassr?