Newly surfaced reports have indicated football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will be unavailable to make his official debut for Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr club on Thursday as he's expected to serve out a two-match ban.
The ban was handed down by the FA after Ronaldo smacked a cellphone out of the hand of an Everton fan at a match in April between Everton and Manchester United, his former club. The 14-year-old fan’s mother said his hand had been left “bruised,” and that he was “in complete shock” due to Ronaldo's outburst. The boy was also reportedly autistic.
Ronaldo had apologized for his reaction and attempted to make reparations with the boy and his mother. The FA instead moved ahead and handed down their punishment with a $60,282 fine and a two-game suspension.
Ronaldo failed to earlier serve out the game suspensions on account of him abruptly leaving the English club. According to the Daily Mail, the athlete will now have to serve that ban under Al-Nassr in coordination with Article 12.1 of FIFA’s Regulations on the Status of Players.
During an independent FA panel chaired by Christopher Quinlan KC, which found Ronaldo guilty of a “deliberate and forceful slap down,” Ronaldo explained he was injured by a heavy tackle late into the match but remained on the field, and when Manchester United players were leaving the field and walking through a tunnel they were met by an aggressive fanbase.
Ronaldo said he noticed an arm pointing out towards his injured leg and saw that the arm was “holding an object” but that he didn’t see it was a cellphone. Without realizing who the arm belonged to, he slapped the “object away” adding it was “an instinctively proactive reaction.” When he found out the arm belonged to a teenage boy he reached out to the mother to apologize.
“It is clear to us that the spectator posed no actual or perceived threat to the player. The player could simply have walked around him or ignored him. He was walking slowly and calmly, as were the other players. Nobody appeared to act as if under threat. It was an atmosphere he would not be unfamiliar with,” the FA panel said of Ronaldo in a statement.
“Instead, he moved his shin guard from his left to right hand and slapped down hard upon the spectator’s hand. We have little doubt this was an act born of frustration and annoyance rather than fear or concern for his well-being.”
Though Ronaldo’s first game for Al-Nassr won’t be until the 21st of January, Al-Nassr won’t hold back from parading their new star player’s image over their next two games.
More than 5,000 shirts with Ronaldo’s name and number sold in just 24 hours from Al-Nassr’s store. His image has also been plastered on billboards across Riyadh as he has been outfitted with an around-the-clock security detail, perhaps not only becoming Al-Nassr’s biggest celebrity, but the city's as well.
While currently banned from playing, he did change into his new club’s uniform and demonstrate his talents for 28,000 fans on Monday night, with the money from ticket sales reportedly going to charity.
Ronaldo was unveiled as Al Nassr’s new player after rumors of the acquisition circled the media for weeks. Ronaldo and Al Nassr officially announced their partnership last Friday, with the team reportedly paying the star over $200 million a year. His fanfare sold out all 28,000 seats for the match against Al Ta’ee for Thursday.