Cristiano Ronaldo demands referee replaced during game after Al Nassr goal ruled out | OneFootball

Switch up: Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky to escape a red card

SSC Extra 1

Alex Young @alexwsyoung

Cristiano Ronaldo was spotted seemingly asking for the referee to be replaced after disagreeing with a decision during Al-Nassr 's 1-0 win over Al-Ettifaq in the King Cup.

The narrow win over Steven Gerrard's side came thanks to a Sadio Mane finish in extra time, knocking out his former Liverpool team-mates Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum in the process. But Ronaldo believed the game should have been decided far earlier.

Anderson Talisca thought he had Al-Nassr in front in the first-half stoppage time, only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR as Ronaldo had interfered with play while in an offside position.

Talisca was then on the wrong end of another VAR decision deep into first-half stoppage time when his yellow card was upgraded to a red and subsequently sent off by Chilean referee Piero Maza.

Both decisions clearly irked Ronaldo who, while already on a booking himself for dissent, screamed in Maza's face and then imitated towards his bench and the fourth officials that the match official be substituted. He avoided a second yellow card for both acts.

Al-Nassr moved into the King Cup quarter-finals. They are next in action on Saturday where they take on Al Khaleej looking to close the gap on league leaders Al Hilal.