Advertisement

Young fan's brutal gesture after Ronaldo left in tears

A young Valencia fan has dished out a brutal gesture to Cristiano Ronaldo after he was controversially red carded on his Champions League debut for Juventus.

Just 29 minutes into the Group H opener against Valencia, Ronaldo appeared to make contact with Jeison Murillo’s head, away from the ball.

The pair had come together with Murillo hitting the deck, and Ronaldo reaching down to make brief contact as he passed by the downed defender.

The red card was shown for the incident, leaving Ronaldo visibly distraught as he was sent for an early shower.

The star forward first fell to the turf in disbelief, and was later seen with his face in his hands.

As he finally made his way off the pitch in bitter circumstances, the young fan was spotted on camera with both of his middle fingers raised.

A young Valencia fan’s brutal gesture to a distraught Cristiano Ronaldo. Pic: Getty/Optus Sport
A young Valencia fan’s brutal gesture to a distraught Cristiano Ronaldo. Pic: Getty/Optus Sport

It was the first red card in the Champions League in Ronaldo’s career, in his 154th appearance.

That also means Ronaldo will miss the next game, Juventus’ home date against Young Boys, and possibly their trip to Old Trafford to face his former club Manchester United, though that will be up to UEFA’s Disciplinary Body.

The UEFA regulations state: “As a rule, a player who is sent off the field of play is suspended for the next match in a UEFA club competition (i.e. UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League or UEFA Super Cup). In case of serious offences, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body is entitled to augment this punishment, including by extending it to other competitions.”

Despite being down a man, Juventus went into the half up a goal after Dani Parejo foul allowed Miralem Pjanic to give the Old Lady the lead from the spot just before the end of the first 45.

Then Murillo himself was flagged for a foul in the area early in the second half, which Pjanic again finished off to double Juventus’ advantage.

with Goal.