Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused on social media of responding badly to a Lionel Messi fan following Al-Nassr’s 3-1 win over Al-Batin – but these accusations appear to be unfair.
The 38-year-old played the full 90 minutes as Al-Nassr secured a dramatic victory over the Saudi League’s bottom side.
Ronaldo and his teammates trailed until the third minute of stoppage-time when Abdulrahman Ghareeb equalised for the league leaders.
Mohamed Al Fatil then put Al-Nassr 2-1 up in the 12th minute of stoppage-time before Mohammed Maran added gloss to the scoreline in the 14th minute of stoppage-time.
Ronaldo accused of reacting badly to Messi fan
Footage of Ronaldo walking through to the tunnel to the dressing room has been posted on social media.
A young fan can be heard shouting something and appears to mention Lionel Messi’s name.
Ronaldo then shouts some words – and the accusation is that he responded: ‘Go watch him then, why are you here?’
However, many people have jumped to Ronaldo’s defence, pointing out that the Portuguese legend didn’t say these words.
What did Ronaldo say?
We don’t know for sure but he certainly seems to use the words ‘partido fácil’ – or ‘easy game’ in English.
One Twitter user claims he said: ‘An easy game? Never an easy game.’
He doesn’t appear to use the Spanish/Portuguese word ‘aqui’ – ‘here’ in English – which backs up claims that Ronaldo didn’t say what is being widely spread across social media.
Tough match for Ronaldo and his Al-Nassr teammates
It certainly wasn’t an easy game for Al-Nassr, who struggled to break down the league’s bottom side.
Al-Batin had only managed to pick up six points from their opening 18 league fixtures prior to Friday’s match (and had a goal difference of -32) but came agonisingly close to pulling off a huge upset.
Renzo Lopez scored the opening goal for the visitors in Riyadh. Ronaldo had a chance to level the scores midway through the first half following some curious goalkeeping by Martin Campana but saw his shot cleared off the line.
Read more: Cristiano Ronaldo: Al-Batin goalkeeper Martin Campana goes viral for bizarre play vs Al-Nassr star
Al-Batin entered second-half stoppage-time with their one-goal lead intact but ended up capitulating after 12 minutes were added on.
It was a crucial win for Ronaldo’s side, who stay top of the Saudi League table, two points clear of second-placed Al-Ittihad.
The title rivals go head-to-head on Thursday, and Ronaldo – the Saudi League’s Player of the Month for February – will no doubt be intent on producing a match-winning performance in the crunch fixture.
