CR7 tells referee to overturn penalty he won in AFC Champions League

Cristiano Ronaldo convinced the referee to change his mind after awarding him a penalty in Al Nassr's AFC Champions League 0-0 draw with Iran's Persepolis.

 

The 38-year-old former Manchester United and Real Madrid great appeared to have been brought down by Soroush Rafiei inside the box and Chinese referee Ma Ning pointed to the spot.

Ronaldo then leapt to his feet and approached the referee, wagging his finger, shaking his head and telling him there had been no foul.

After consulting the VAR (video assistant referee), the referee was sent to the pitch-side monitor and reversed his decision in the Group E clash in Riyadh.

Despite the draw, Al Nassr have booked their place in the knockout stage of the competition.

Ronaldo expressed his delight on social media, writing: "Happy that we qualified first in our group and to have achieved 20 games unbeaten. Great teamwork."

The Portuguese did not mention anything about the penalty incident.

The Saudi Arabian side, who had won all four Group E matches going into the encounter, needed only a point at Al Awwal Park to advance to the last 16.

Al Nassr got just that, although they played the majority of the match with 10 men when Ali Lajami was shown a straight red card on 17 minutes for a raking his studs down Milad Sarlak's shin.

Their celebrations were also dampened somewhat by Ronaldo's substitution with 13 minutes remaining following an earlier collision with Persepolis goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

Manager Luis Castro said: "The medical staff will study Cristiano's injury. The medical staff will do its job of recovering and making him ready for the next match."

Al Nassr face arch-rivals Al Hilal on Dec 1 in a top-of-the-table clash in the Saudi Pro League.

In the group's other match, Al Duhail got their first win this campaign with a 2-0 victory at home to Tajikistan side Istiklol.

In Group C, Saudi Arabian champions Al Ittihad bounced back from defeat in round four with a 2-1 win at Uzbekistan's AGMK FC.

The win means two-time winners Al Ittihad, who had new manager Marcelo Gallardo making his Asian Champions League debut, remain top of the standings heading into next week's tie at home with second-placed Sepahan.

The Iranians defeated Iraqi opponents Air Force Club 1-0 on Nov 27 at the Azadi Stadium – despite having two men sent off – to move two points behind Al Ittihad.

The group stage, which returned to a home-and-away format for the first time since early 2020, runs until mid-December, with the 10 pool winners and the six best second-placed teams advancing to the knockout rounds starting in February.

The final takes place, across two legs, in May.