Cristiano Ronaldo breaks into tears after Al Nassr lose penalty shootout against Al-Hilal
Cristiano Ronaldo was in floods of tears after his Al Nassr side lost to Al-Hilal via a penalty shootout in the King Cup of Champions final on Friday.
Al Nassr lost 5-4 on spot-kicks after the contest had been tied at 1-1 following 120 minutes of dramatic action.
Having completed the entire Saudi Pro League campaign without losing a single game, Al-Hilal began Friday’s King Cup final as strong favourites.
Al-Hilal looked like an even safer bet when Aleksandar Mitrovic headed home the opening goal of the night after just six minutes.
After going a goal down, Al Nassr went a man down 11 minutes into the second half when keeper David Ospina was shown a straight red card for illegally denying Malcom a clear scoring chance.
But Ronaldo and Co stayed in the game and equalized in the 88th minute courtesy of Aiman Yahya, who found the net with a header following a long throw-in.
That equalizer came moments after Al-Hilal defender Ali Al-Bulaihi had been sent off for an apparent headbutt on Sami Al-Najei.
Momentum then swung heavily Al Nassr’s way before the 90 minutes were up as Kalidou Koulibaly was also sent off.
But despite it being 10 vs nine for the entirety of extra time, Al Nassr were unable to score a second goal.
Ronaldo – who had hit the post with an acrobatic bicycle kick during normal time – successfully netted his penalty during the shootout.
But former Manchester United teammate Alex Telles missed before Ali Al-Hassan and Meshari Al-Nemer also failed to find the net for Al Nassr.
Ronaldo sat slumped on the ground crying after the shootout was over.
After being consoled by his teammates, he eventually got back on his feet but was later pictured in tears again.
Cristiano Ronaldo crying after narrow defeat
It hurt me to see Cristiano Ronaldo crying pic.twitter.com/c4zT9fQRnq
— JUST KINGS (@JustKingss) May 31, 2024
Cristiano Ronaldo breaks down crying after losing to Al Hilal on penalties.
Its hard to see Ronaldo like this man… pic.twitter.com/6tLR73lqUX
— Galactic_ (@Galactic_Rasmus) May 31, 2024
Hard to see Cristiano Ronaldo like this pic.twitter.com/qtVmotQTOg
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) May 31, 2024
This was Ronaldo’s 70th appearance for Al Nassr.
He has so far scored 64 goals for the Riyadh club, including a record-breaking 35 in this season’s Saudi Pro League.
The post Cristiano Ronaldo breaks into tears after Al Nassr lose penalty shootout against Al-Hilal appeared first on CaughtOffside.