Ronaldo should have had a penalty as Al-Nassr comeback sparks refereeing debate

A refereeing expert says Cristiano Ronaldo should have been awarded a penalty and that there was a procedural error before Al-Nassr goalkeeper Bento Matheus was sent off during their dramatic 3-2 victory over Al-Ettifaq in the Roshn Saudi League.

Al-Nassr recovered from two goals down to win an extraordinary third-round contest despite playing with 10 men from the 12th minute. The visitors were placed under severe pressure after Bento’s dismissal but turned the match around in the second half to complete a remarkable comeback and claim all three points.

Mohamed Kamal Risha, the Egyptian refereeing analyst for Al-Riyadiyah, reviewed the key decisions from the match and said the free-kick leading to Bento’s red card had not been taken correctly.

The referee, Mohammed Al-Huwaish, awarded Al-Ettifaq a free-kick after a foul by Al-Nassr left-back Salem Al-Najdi. Rayan Messi restarted play quickly, sending the ball towards team-mate Moussa Dembele, who had moved beyond Al-Nassr’s defence and was through on goal.

Bento came out to challenge Dembele near the edge of the penalty area and brought down the Al-Ettifaq forward. Al-Huwaish immediately showed the Brazilian goalkeeper a straight red card in the 12th minute for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Risha said the referee should have prevented the quick restart if he had stopped play to issue a yellow card to Al-Najdi.

“Had Al-Huwaish stopped play to show Al-Najdi the yellow card, the Al-Ettifaq player would not have been allowed to restart quickly. But the referee did not do that, so Messi had the right to take the free-kick immediately towards his team-mate Dembele,” Risha said.

However, he identified a separate mistake in the way the free-kick was taken.

“The error was in the way the Al-Ettifaq player took the free-kick while the ball was moving. It should have been stationary before play restarted, and the referee should have noticed that,” Risha added.

He also explained that the video assistant referee could not intervene over that particular issue because it was a procedural infringement rather than one of the incidents within VAR’s remit.

“Meanwhile, the video assistant referee does not have the authority to intervene in infringements of this procedural nature. The decision to send Bento off was correct because he denied an Al-Ettifaq player an obvious opportunity to score,” he said.

Risha then assessed another incident from the 38th minute, this time inside the Al-Ettifaq penalty area. He believed the home side’s goalkeeper, Turki Al-Jughaiman, made an illegal challenge on Cristiano Ronaldo while both players competed for a cross from a corner.

The goalkeeper failed to reach the delivery, while an Al-Ettifaq defender headed the ball clear. Al-Jughaiman then collided with Ronaldo and brought the Portugal forward to the ground.

“The Al-Ettifaq defender succeeded in reaching the cross and cleared it with his head, while the goalkeeper failed in his attempt and then collided with Ronaldo, bringing him down,” Risha said.

“I believe the goalkeeper was careless, and the video assistant referee should have called the referee to award a penalty,” he added.