Outside the lines, 25.2/Video editing: Ziv Steiner
The ethics committee in the Saudi Federation decided today (Thursday) to suspend Cristiano Ronaldo from one match and fined him 5,300 dollars.
This follows the obscene movement performed by Kochav Al Nasser last Sunday in the Shabab Al Ahly match.
The Gulf state claimed earlier that after the local football association opened an investigation into the incident, in which the Portuguese responded to chants of "Messi, Messi" from Shabab Al Ahly fans, Ronaldo is in danger of being banned for two games.
It was later reported that Ronaldo would not be suspended, but in the end received a minimal ban and will miss the match against Al Hazm.
Banned for one game.
Ronaldo's obscene movement
"I respect all the clubs. The movement I made expresses strength and victory, it is not immoral. In Europe we are used to it," Ronaldo said before the discussion of his case.
It is also claimed that Ronaldo included in his testimony video clips from similar cases in the European leagues in which he played, when his message to the committee was written in several languages before being translated into Arabic.
This is the second time that Ronaldo has made a move that is seen as "immoral" since he signed for Al Nasser, but as you can recall, he had similar reactions earlier in his career when fans of opposing teams called out the name of CR7's great rival, Leo Messi, in order to provoke in portuguese.
It should be noted that this penalty is not subject to appeal and in any case Ronaldo's financial penalty is peanuts, compared to the amount he earns.
The last time Ronaldo was involved in a similar incident was against Al Hilal, a game in which Ronaldo was recorded holding his testicles while fans chanted Messi's name.
Ronaldo, who started his second season in Al Nasser, is the league's top scorer with 22 goals.
But his team lags behind Al Hilal, Alexander Mitrovic's team, which has an almost perfect record of 19 wins, 2 draws and 0 losses and enjoys a seven-point advantage at the top.
Mitrovic is second to Ronaldo with 19 caps and this is in the team that also signed Neymar, but the Brazilian was injured from the first moment and it is doubtful that he will return to play in the team.
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Don't be banned