Cristiano Ronaldo’s torrid time continued as the legendary Portuguese footballer missed a stoppage-time penalty in Al-Nassr’s King’s Cup match against Al-Taawoun on Tuesday. The blunder put Al-Nassr out of the King’s Cup. They were 0-1 down, and Ronaldo had the golden opportunity to equalize in the dying stages of the match, but he uncharacteristically blew up the chance. Al-Nassr lost the match 0-1 and was eliminated from the tournament.
The five-time Ballon D’Or winner has yet to win a major trophy since signing for the club almost two years ago.
Playing at the round-of-16 stage of Saudi Arabia’s premier knockout competition, Al-Taawoun took the lead on Waleed Al-Ahmad’s header with 20 minutes remaining. Al-Ahmad was then whistled for a foul in the area in the 95th minute.
Ronaldo had converted all 18 of his previous penalties for Al-Nassr but this time shot over the bar to the shock of the home crowd of 14,519. What’s more? Ronaldo’s shot hit a kid, who was trying to capture the action on his mobile phone camera. Videos of the kid losing his phone after the ball thudded onto his hand went viral.
Ronaldo was heavily criticized for missing the penalty. He also came up with a social media post after the match: “Every challenge is an opportunity to grow,” he wrote, promising to come back stronger.
The defeat is the first for Stefano Pioli since the Italian succeeded Luis Castro as head coach in September.
Ronaldo and Al-Nassr still have two chances at silverware this season but are already six points behind leader Al-Hilal after eight games of the Saudi Pro League and have seven points from three games in the group stage of the Asian Champions League.
“Technically we performed well but we couldn’t win the game,” Pioli said. “We feel disappointed to be out of the cup. But we still have two trophies to go for and we will give our best in them.”
