Cristiano Ronaldo was spotted screaming “Wake Up!” in the direction of the referees officiating Al-Nassr's match against Al-Taawoun after the hosts were denied a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
Ronaldo assisted the opening goal of the game just over a quarter of an hour into the match after playing teammate Abdulrahman Ghareeb through on goal from inside of his own half with a pinpoint pass. The provider could then have turned goalscorer before the break after attempting to exchange a one-two with Ghareeb, only to see the return pass blocked by goalkeeper Maylson and what appeared to be the trailing arm of central defender Naldo.
The 38-year-old sprinted straight towards the on-field referee to make his case, slapping his own arm to make the point that the opposition player had illegally handled the ball in his eyes. The video assistant referee did not agree, though, as a check confirmed the initial decision. That development did little to improve the player's mood, evidenced further when Ronaldo screamed “Wake Up!” at the officials while walking down the tunnel at half-time.
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The scores were soon level inside two minutes of the second-half when Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammate Alvaro Medran equalised for the visitors. The Portugal international soon missed a chance for Al-Nassr to retake the lead, and more potential penalties were turned down by referee Sultan Al-Harbi before the breakthrough eventually came.
After inadvertently blocking a goal-bound Luiz Gustavo shot inside the six-yard box, the ball bounced back to former club captain Abdullah Madu to fire home from point-blank range. Despite Ronaldo initially being flagged for looking offside, a pitchside VAR check deemed that he was instead being played on by an opposition player on the far side.
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