It Wasn't Only Al-Ittihad Mocking Ronaldo! Al Hilal, Al Ahli and Others Have Done It Too!

September 7. In the latest round of the Saudi Pro League, Al Nassr lost 1-2 away to Al-Ittihad. Ronaldo received a rating of only 6.7 in the match, with 0 goals and 0 assists. During the game, he produced what was described as a “performance” by looking at the opponent’s tactical note and missing an attempted bicycle kick, and was mocked by media outlets as a comedian. After the match, Al-Ittihad’s official accounts mocked him twice — the English official account posted match footage showing Ronaldo awkwardly looking at the note, with the caption “cheated but still lost”; Al-Ittihad’s Arabic official account (operated by a completely different team) also posted: “Is this the skill Ronaldo learned from refereeing favoritism (diving, simulation or cheating)?”

It is worth mentioning that Ronaldo can be said to have been mocked repeatedly in the Saudi league by major clubs and even some ordinary opponents. For example, Al Fateh, which recently did not have a match against Al Nassr, mocked Ronaldo for looking at the opponent’s tactical note by editing the note into his own ticket. This was only an attempt to join the trend, while other teams’ mockery after defeating Ronaldo was much more direct.

For example, after Al Ahli, Al-Ittihad’s city rivals, defeated Al Nassr last season and earlier this year, they edited Ronaldo onto a ride-hailing car, with the license plate reading “Loser” and the caption: “Riyadh 965 power.” Al Ahli sporting director Rui Pedro, who is Portuguese and a compatriot of Ronaldo, was also reported at the time to have shouted “Messi” toward Ronaldo, angering him. Al Ahli fans also told Ronaldo that their club had two AFC Champions League titles, which upset him. Before a match, Al Ahli defender Merih Demiral even brought out his AFC Champions League championship medal and displayed it in front of Ronaldo and Al Nassr.

Al Hilal has also mocked Ronaldo. For example, when Ronaldo missed the Riyadh derby, an Al Hilal fan posted a missing-person notice on the streets of Riyadh, with an image of Ronaldo wearing Al Nassr fan clothing and crying. The caption read: “A missing man in his 40s, suffering from excessive crying disorder,” mocking Ronaldo. After Al Nassr defeated Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in the Saudi Super Cup, captain Salem Al-Dawsari and his teammates used a celebration gesture resembling Messi’s World Cup title celebration to mock Ronaldo. After Ronaldo’s elbow incident, Al Hilal’s official account compared Ronaldo’s action to WWE, also mocked his tendency to complain and raise his hands, and released a compilation of Ronaldo’s foul incidents.