In a dramatic turn of events, Cristiano Ronaldo, the forward for Al-Nassr, received a red card for elbowing an opponent during his team’s 2-1 defeat against Al-Hilal in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final.
The incident occurred in the 86th minute of the match when Ronaldo, 39, was seen swinging his elbow into the chest of Ali Al Bulayhi, a player from the opposing team. Al Bulayhi fell to the ground, prompting the referee to show Ronaldo a straight red card.
Following his dismissal, Ronaldo appeared to gesture towards the referee before leaving the field. This marks the first red card Ronaldo has received since joining Al-Nassr in December 2022.
At the time of Ronaldo’s expulsion, Al-Nassr was trailing 2-0, with goals from Salem Al-Dawsari and Malcom securing the lead for Al-Hilal. Despite a late goal from former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane in stoppage time, Al-Nassr couldn’t overturn the deficit.
With this result, three-time champions Al-Hilal advance to the final, where they will face Al-Ittihad on Thursday. Al-Ittihad secured their spot in the final by defeating Al-Wehda 2-1 earlier in the day, with goals from former Real Madrid captain Karim Benzema and Morocco forward Abderrazak Hamdallah.