On the 27th at 3 am (Korean time), Ronaldo’s team Al Nasr played the Saudi Super Cup semi-final against Al Ittihad at the King Fahd International Stadium. Ronaldo started and played full-time, but could not prevent his team from losing 1-3. In the end, Al Nasr failed to advance to the finals, and Ronaldo also lost his first championship challenge after advancing to Saudi Arabia.
An eye-catching scene emerged. From the time the players entered before the game, slogans chanting Messi came out from the stands. Messi, who plays for PSG in France, was recalled from the Saudi Super Cup. The reason was Ronaldo. Al Ittihad fans chanted Messi from the moment they entered the stadium to stimulate Ronaldo. Ronaldo entered the stadium, ignoring it, and started the game. 스포츠토토
It was a familiar scene for us. When Juventus visited Korea in 2019 and played a friendly match against ‘Team K League’, Ronaldo broke the contract to play 45 minutes and did not come to the ground. When Ronaldo headed back to the bench at the start of the second half after the first half, fans who had paid for tickets were outraged. Then, he chanted the name of Messi, the ‘rival of the century’, and rebuked Ronaldo for his wrong judgment. Even back then, Ronaldo tried hard to pretend not to hear.
The Messi era for Ronaldo continued at the World Cup in Qatar last year. During the third round of the Group H qualifier between Korea and Portugal, when Ronaldo was replaced and time wasted, some Korean fans who visited the stadium chanted Messi. After a small argument with Cho Kyu-sung, Ronaldo left the stadium as slowly as possible. It was a kind of nerve war.
Al Ittihad fans seem to have had the same reason. Because he is a player with so much experience and outstanding skills, he is the number 1 target to be wary of from the point of view of his opponent team. He came from a small hope that he could not display his skills unless he was shaken psychologically. Whether that hope came true, Ronaldo had to watch the defeat without performing any significant activities except for his brilliant foot skills and a close free kick.