"Man should just retire", "Try again next year" - Fans react as Cristiano Ronaldo left in tears after Al-Nassr lose King's Cup final
Fans on social media have reacted as Cristiano Ronaldo was left in tears after Al-Nassr lost the King's Cup final to Al-Hilal on penalties, It was a hard-fought encounter that saw the Portuguese striker's side go down to an early goal, but they rallied to take the game into extra time.
Both sides were unable to add any goals in the 30 minutes extra, with the final eventually heading into penalties. Both Ruben Neves and Alex Telles missed their penalties, keeping the shootout scoreline at 0-0. However, the next eight penalties entered the net, as players like Aleksandr Mitrovic and Cristiano Ronaldo buried their efforts.
The scoreline was at 4-4 when Saud Abdulhamid and Ali Alhassan missed their chances to score. Nasser Aldawsari buried his chance for Al-Hilal to make it 5-4. The chance was left for Meshari Al-Nemer to place his effort beyond goalkeeper Yassine Bono to keep Al-Nassr in the shootout.
However, it did not happen for Al-Nemer, who failed to score, and the Al-Hilal crowd erupted while players like Ronaldo could be seen in tears on the pitch:
Fans took to social media to react:
"He has to leave that trash club, al nassr is destroying ronaldo’s career, he’s doing everything that he can and the team just do not help," an angry fan reacted.
"DELICIOUS 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣" a rival fan laughed.
"thank you telles, thank you for sending the penalty out of the stadium," said a fan who was unhappy with Ronaldo's teammate.
"Man should just retire, pathetic performance," a fan noted.
"Needs to leave Saudi now or retire after Euros... I cannot do this anymore 💔" another said.
"All of them including him were given chances, extra time and even 10 vs 9 to win this game. He probably cry because he knew he could have done better and he knew he let the fans down. Try again next year. 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️" said a fan who wasn't too sympathetic.
Others added:
Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr lose to Al-Hilal as red cards abound
The King's Cup final 2024 was an end-to-end match that may not have had many goals in normal time, but it certainly provided its fair share of drama. 10 yellow cards were given across the board, along with three red cards, as referee Dario Herrera had his work cut out for him.
After Aleksandar Mitrovic's seventh-minute goal, it seemed like neither side had the luck needed to find the net again, as Cristiano Ronaldo struggled but failed to score. David Ospina picked up a red card in the 56th minute for Al-Nassr to put them on the backburner and seemingly hand the game to Al-Hilal.
However, there were plot twists in the making, as Ayman Yahya scored an 88th minute equalizer to push the game into extra time.
Two Al-Hilal players Ali Albulayhi and Kalidou Koulibaly picked up red cards, putting Cristiano Ronaldo's Nassr in the advantage. They couldn't make it count though, eventually losing on penalties.