Cristiano Ronaldo has been at the pinnacle of the footballing world for over 15 years now. He is one of if not the most athletes and personalities in the world.
He is the most followed person all across social media. Young players such as Rashford, Mbappe and Saka look up to the Portuguese as their idol along with millions of other children as well but sometimes Ronaldo’s darker side is exposed to people and a similar incident occurred In Al Nassr’s first Group stage fixture against Al-Shabab.
The game was quite tight and scarce of chances for both the sides. Ronaldo started on the bench but was called upon by manager Luis Castro on the 62nd minute. Ronaldo managed to score the only goal of the game, but his efforts were in vain as it was ruled offside by a whisker’s length.
After the game, a dejected Cristiano was making his way back to the dressing room but was followed by a cameraman similar to when the ex- Real Madrid player lost with his national side Portugal against Morocco at the World Cup.
Agitated, Cristiano went on to throw a bottle of water he was holding towards the cameraman signaling him to record other players who were on the pitch as well. This was not received well by fans across social media especially Messi FC.
Any incident can be described by two perspectives or as two sides of a coin, one claiming that the cameraman was just doing his job and his employment requires him to follow players around even when they are in a state of dejection, disappointment or annoyance.
Many claim this was a clear act of Ronaldo’s inflated ego and arrogance letting the moment get better of him by showing a temper tantrum and disrespecting somebody that was following their duty.
The other side which are the fanatics and followers of the player claim that the cameraman was encroaching his limit trying to make incident about Ronaldo, when he himself refused to be in the spotlight when he asked the camera operator to leave him alone.
Al Nassr manager Luis Castro clarified regarding the incident saying, “All eyes are always on Cristiano Ronaldo, so you see him unhappy and if you look at the other players, you see their dissatisfaction too.”
The Portuguese phenomenon however has history of lashing out at journalists and fans when his privacy is encroached upon or interfered with him throwing an Everton fan’s iPhone on the ground as well as throwing a journalist’s mic when he when the Portuguese national team was walking by a lake during Euro 2016 in Lyon.
Al Nassr next plays their next game on the 1st of August against Monastir as the second game of their group stage campaign. Maybe Al Nassr manages to secure their first win of the campaign and this incident will be buried.