And Al Nassr explained the situation with Cristiano with a groin injury.

Cristiano Ronaldo was doing well in Saudi Arabia: the immense love of fans who bought hundreds of T-shirts with his name a day, the opportunities given to him by the kingdom's leadership for agreeing to move to the local championship. The Portuguese responded to all the hospitality with goals and photographs, with fans sometimes surrounding him on the streets of Riyadh. Still, the idyll in the relationship between the Saudis and the world star began to crumble when the goals ended. And it finally collapsed when Ronaldo, once again in his career, could not cope with criticism and did something unlikely ever to be forgiven in an Arab country: he grabbed his genitals in response to the fans' cries.

In the match with Al Hilal, Ronaldo scored only one effective action - he grabbed the opponent by the throat with both hands and knocked him to the lawn. It turned out in the best traditions of chokeholds from the world of martial arts, and referee Michael Oliver, who, at the invitation of the local federation, flew to Saudi Arabia for this match, showed the Portuguese a yellow card. Al Nassr lost 0-2, remaining in second place, three points behind Al-Ittihad, who have a game in hand.

Ronaldo left the field to the shouts of the fans, who chanted, "Messi! Messi! Messi! Fans of Al Nassr chose this way to annoy the Portuguese, who could not help the team because it had every chance of missing out on the title. In response, Krish grabbed his crotch - this moment was caught on video, which instantly scattered across the Web.

And it began.

The incident made headlines in local newspapers (the action was described as "immoral," "shameful," and "scandalous"). It was covered for several hours by Action ya Dawri, the most popular sports program in the kingdom.

After the video surfaced on social media, lawyer Nouf bin Ahmed said she would file a complaint with the Saudi prosecutor's office.

"Ronaldo's behavior is considered a crime, a publicly shameful act, and one of the crimes requiring arrest and deportation if a foreigner committed it. Therefore, we will submit a petition to the prosecutor's office," she wrote.

In addition, Nouf bin Ahmed said that she would appeal to the Saudi Arabian Disciplinary and Ethical Committee for equality and the application of the law to Ronaldo, as happened with Al-Ittihad player Alhassan Keita, who, after being sent off, spat on the assistant referee in the 2007 season / 2008. At that time, His Highness Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, General President of Youth Affairs and President of the Saudi Arabian Football Association, decided to approve the recommendations of the Saudi Arabian Football Association Disciplinary Committee and Professional Committee, which included Al-Ittihad breaking the footballer's contract and banning sign agreements with any other club in the country.

The club said that Ronaldo was injured in the groin in the game; the Disciplinary and Ethical Committee of the Football Federation also said there would be no punishment since the Portuguese showed damage in that area. At the same time, the publication Goal.com reported that when reviewing the incident, the committee only evaluated videos from the official broadcaster, and fan videos from social networks did not. They didn't show Ronaldo grabbing his groin on TV.

At the same time, fans on social networks are divided: some write that, despite all the obscenity of the action, the era when the country banned people for something like this is in the past. Someone is surprised by the committee's decision not to punish Ronaldo because there is an example of Keith, who was forced to leave the country after committing an offense. "Ronaldo is untouchable", "Ronaldo can do whatever he wants", "He has the immunity to be untouchable in everything because this is one of the clauses of his contract" - fans compete in guesswork.

Or maybe their guesses are the absolute truth: nevertheless, to send a man out of the country with disgrace, from whom a god was made a couple of months ago in the kingdom's leadership, would be a very dubious act, even despite the scandal.

21.04.2023