Cristiano Ronaldo ‘turns down penalty’ and it’s massive news; sportswashing is complete

Editor F365
Ronaldo in action for Al-Nassr
Ronaldo in action for Al-Nassr

Cristiano Ronaldo is being lauded for protecting his arse before VAR overturned a decision but it’s massive news so Saudi Arabia win…

 

Do Ron Ron Ron
Mediawatch really does have to applaud the extraordinarily, gut-wrenchingly rich people in Saudi Arabia who made it possible for Cristiano Ronaldo to become an Al-Nassr player because there is no denying that it has absolutely worked. The laundry is complete; everything is sparkling clean and drying in the baking Middle Eastern sun.

In the week that Manchester United and Newcastle face a sh*t-or-bust game in the Champions League, one of the biggest stories in football is that Ronaldo argued against a penalty decision – that was then overturned by VAR anyway – in an Asian Champions League game that was pretty much a dead rubber.

What a hero. What a league. What a country.

Here are MailOnline:

Cristiano Ronaldo sportingly tells referee to OVERTURN decision to award him a penalty in AFC Champions League game… despite Al-Nassr drawing 0-0

Referees do not OVERTURN decisions because they are told by a player – that will be the job of VAR – and Al-Nassr drew 0-0 in a game they actually did not need to win.

But still…

Cristiano Ronaldo showed all of his class during Al-Nassr’s AFC Champions League game against Persepolis on Monday.

He’s a real class act. Obviously he would never dive…

But that was not while wearing the colours of moral superheroes Al-Nassr because the Mail are now in awe…

Replays showed that there had been no contact on Ronaldo and credit to the Portuguese superstar he was quickly on his feet and wagging his finger to tell the referee to correct his decision.

Almost like he knew it would be overturned by VAR anyway.

Al-Nassr, who went down to 10 men when Ali Lajami was sent off in the 17th minute, eventually drew the game 0-0 and so it makes Ronaldo’s honesty even more honourable.

Pesky fact: Al-Nassr only needed a point from two games v Persepolis and Tajik champions Istiqlol to qualify for the knock-out stages of the AFC Champions League.

The Mirror are also entirely won over…

Cristiano Ronaldo shows true colours by telling referee to change penalty decision

Again, not his decision to make.

He joined several Persepolis players in approaching the referee to protest the decision and could be seen mouthing the words: “No penalty”. Ning was then sent to review the incident on the pitchside monitor and ultimately changed his mind.

He was ‘then sent to review the incident’ by VAR, which is oddly not mentioned in that Mirror report.

GB News go even further…

Cristiano Ronaldo breaks silence after turning down Al-Nassr penalty as neck injury update provided

‘Turning down’? That is truly extraordinary. The penalty was erroneously awarded and then predictably overturned by VAR. The penalty existed only in theory.

But frankly our expectations of GB News are pretty low. We thought better of the BBC though…

Cristiano Ronaldo is known for his goalscoring exploits but on Monday night the Al-Nassr forward convinced the referee not to award him a penalty.

Did he balls.

But well done Saudi Arabia because you have absolutely smashed this.

 

HELL on earth
There’s very little that tabloid newspapers enjoy more than a step back in time…to when people actually bought and read tabloid newspapers.

Which is how we end up with The Sun claiming an ‘exclusive’ on Manchester United rent-a-gob Paul Parker saying there was a febrile atmosphere in Istanbul 30 years ago.

‘HELLCOME BACK’ is the back-page headline, which would have probably held a little more weight if Manchester United had not gone back in 2012 and encountered no real trouble at all.

Online, The Sun have opted for the classic headline of ‘I played for Man Utd in Welcome to Hell clash vs Galatasaray…a policeman pushed me down some STAIRS’.

Mediawatch has only one question: Why would you capitalise STAIRS? Surely the shocking element of that story is the POLICEMAN?

But the real mistake made by The Sun is not pretending that this is all happening right now, and for that little trick we head to the Mirror, where nothing is knowingly undersold:

Man Utd stars taunted with throat-slit gestures and attacked by police in Galatasaray mayhem

It’s almost like it was yesterday.

 

Huge water vessels
Obviously that’s not the biggest story in football on Tuesday. That honour goes to this on The Sun website:

Inside football owners’ spectacular superyachts, including one £95m vessel with a nightclub and tequila cellar

It’s basically w**king over wealth but this from Jon Boon made Mediawatch giggle…

They are also stocked full of amazing things, giving you the opportunity to play golf, enjoy a jacuzzi and even a dance in an onboard nightclub.

‘Even a dance’? There’s a man who has never been on a cruise. Or maybe even a holiday.

Mediawatch Cristiano Ronaldo

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