![]() They have been undeterred by a ban from FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, on registering new players due to “outstanding debt”, with club sources insisting the sanction will be reduced to a financial penalty and that they will still be able to sign more players this summer. (Photo: Zed Jameson/MB Media/Getty Images)Īl Nassr view the signings of Benzema, Kante and Firmino by other Saudi clubs with optimism. “You’d have to do a university thesis on his social impact,” one of his closest friends told The Athletic as the match unfolded. Minute 69 and the fans forget about the match to go and greet their idol /zf9oLNwKsw Some held up banners in tribute to Portugal’s record goalscorer and appearance maker.ĭo you think Cristiano still attracts people's attention? With 20 minutes left to play and Celta 2-0 up, streams of people (especially children) turned their focus away from the action on the pitch and started walking in the direction of Ronaldo, who went to a box up in the stand after being replaced. The man known as ‘CR7’ still generated the kind of buzz that you would associate with his best playing days around a decade ago. It didn’t matter that Al Nassr got thrashed 5-0, after Ronaldo was substituted and a sending-off left them playing 11 vs 10. They wore the shirts of Al Nassr, Portugal, Juventus and Real Madrid, and all had come to see their idol. There was a professional Ronaldo doppelganger, a TikTok influencer from the United Arab Emirates who follows the player everywhere, and an array of fans from Portugal, Spain, England and France, among others. More than 6,000 turned out to watch Ronaldo’s return to his home country - almost twice the number who watched Mbappe and France, who have played in the past two World Cup finals.Īnd it wasn’t simply the number of people, but the makeup of the crowd which told a story. His was the only name really cheered when the teams were read out, the only name chanted too.On Monday, Mbappe’s childhood hero, Cristiano Ronaldo, was at the same venue to play in a fixture of even less consequence - a pre-season friendly between his Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr and Celta Vigo of Spain’s La Liga.īut if you needed proof of the enduring pull factor of Ronaldo, even at the age of 38, Monday night provided it. Porto, Manchester City, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Dortmund, Manchester United, Wolves, Porto, Manchester City, Atlético Madrid, unemployed. Look at the team, and maybe you can see it through the quality of the clubs they represent. “I believe Portugal is the best team at this World Cup,” Ronaldo said. En route, a dad was busy telling his sons how to siuuu. The walk to the stadium was lined with Portugal shirts, seven on the back. And none of that reduced the attention on him it may even have enhanced it, increased the awareness that this, here, is a last chance. The exhaustion at fielding endless questions was palpable, the claims that none of it mattered barely credible. The buildup had been dominated by the fallout in Manchester, to the extent of the doors to Portugal’s training camp having to be closed. Iñaki Williams almost equalised for Ghana in injury time. ![]() Arms outstretched, as he came down, 40,000 people joined him in saying it: Siuuu! This is what they had come for. He ran and leapt into the air, that familiar routine. It also made him the first man to score at five World Cups: one against Iran in 2006, one against North Korea in 2010, one against Ghana in 2014, three against Spain, one against Morocco in 2018, and now this. It was his 819th career goal – eight hundred and nineteenth, for goodness sake – and his 118th for Portugal. He took big, deep breaths, blew out hard, then skipped to his left, ran up and struck the penalty high into the net, just above the keeper’s hand. He looked up then down again, and closed his eyes for some time. Standing on the spot and in the spotlight again, as if he ever really left it, Ronaldo put the ball down. In front of him, phones were held up, cameras ready, capturing not just a piece of history but a piece of theatre. And so there he was, in his place, his moment. As they came together, though, Ronaldo tumbled and the referee blew for a penalty. He was beaten to the ball by Mohammed Salisu, or so it seemed. An hour had gone when Ronaldo ran into the left side of the area.
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