DUESSELDORF: Cristiano Ronaldo narrowly avoided being hit by a fan who jumped from the crowd to get close to the soccer star when Portugal played Georgia at the European Championship on Wednesday.
A video widely circulated on social media shows someone leaping over the top of the players’ tunnel at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen as Ronaldo headed to the locker room.
A safety steward rushed to shield the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star and other security staff raced toward the fan, who fell away out of sight.
A bemused-looking Ronaldo stops, but appears to be unharmed. Portugal lost the game 2-0.
Portugal’s Football Federation confirmed the incident, but did not comment. European soccer’s governing body UEFA said it was aware of the incident.
Ronaldo is one of the most famous sporting icons in the world with a massive fan base, which includes 632 million followers on Instagram and nearly 112 million on X.
During Portugal’s previous match against Turkiye in Dortmund on Saturday he was confronted on the field by four supporters who wanted selfies.
Ronaldo posed for one with a young fan who evaded stewards to get on the field in the 69th minute, but looked frustrated when approached by more fans later in the game and after the final whistle.
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez coach said after that game that the Al Nassr forward was fortunate not to have been harmed and raised concerns over his security.
“We all love a fan that recognizes the big stars and the big icons in their minds,” he said. “But you can understand it was a very, very difficult moment — if those intentions are wrong, the players are exposed and we need to be careful with that.”
UEFA have said safety and security in the stadium is the “ultimate priority” and that additional safety measures would be deployed to prevent selfie-seeking fans from entering the field.
The 39-year-old Ronaldo is widely-regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time alongside Lionel Messi, Pele and Diego Maradona.
He has won the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world on five occasions and is a six-time Champions League winner.
He now plays for Saudi Arabian team Al Nassr and reportedly earns up to $200 million a year.
Ronaldo is the first player to appear at six European Championships and while he is yet to score at this year’s tournament, he holds the record for the most goals at the Euros with 14.
He could also become the oldest player to score at a Euros — surpassing Luka Modric, who set a record with his goal for Croatia against Italy on Tuesday at the age of 38 years and 289 days.
Despite the shock loss to Georgia, Portugal advanced to the knockout phase of Euro 2024 and will play Slovenia in the round of 16 in Frankfurt on Monday.
Cristiano Ronaldo just avoided being hit by a fan who jumped from the crowd to get to him at Euros
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Cristiano Ronaldo just avoided being hit by a fan who jumped from the crowd to get to him at Euros
- A safety steward rushed to shield the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star and other security staff race toward the fan
Own goal enough for Al-Ahli as Matchday 24 win keeps pressure on Al-Nassr
- Al-Ahli eke out 1-0 win over Al-Riyadh to keep pressure on Al-Nassr
- Milan Borjan own goal separated the sides at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium
RIYADH: Matchday 24 of the Saudi Pro League kicked off on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the delayed Matchday 10. With the FIFA Arab Cup, World Cup Qualifiers and FIFA World Cup sandwiching the 2025/26 campaign, resting periods have been few and far between outside the international breaks.
With fixtures coming thick and fast, Al-Ahli opted to rest Riyad Mahrez and Enzo Millot for their clash with Al-Riyadh in the capital. Ramadan has further challenged the league schedule, with Matthias Jaissle’s side only arriving in Riyadh at 5:30pm — just hours before kick-off.
With their previous outing against Damac still dominating conversation, Jaissle was keen to ensure his players did not fall into the same trap — namely, being caught off guard by an opponent’s unexpectedly proactive style.
To his relief, Al-Ahli were largely in control this time. Yet the absence of Mahrez limited their creative spark. Relying heavily on Wenderson Galeno down the left, Al-Riyadh did well to crowd the Brazilian and deny him space to operate.
The bane of any expansive side is a compact 5-4-1, and that is precisely how Al-Riyadh’s recently appointed Brazilian manager Mauricio Dulac set his team up. A long-time assistant to former Al-Riyadh coach Odair Hellmann, this marks Dulac’s first managerial role.
Al-Ahli’s attacking routes were severely restricted throughout the first half. Al-Riyadh denied them the opportunity to press high, Mahrez’s trademark diagonals were absent, and finding Ivan Toney in the six-yard box proved a difficult task.
On the rare occasions the visitors broke the defensive line, Milan Borjan stood firm in goal — there was no getting past the Canadian.
That was until first-half stoppage time. Al-Ahli had one more weapon in their arsenal: set-pieces. A lofted delivery from Galeno’s free-kick met the head of Roger Ibañez, who nodded the ball towards goal. Borjan pushed it away, but it was too late — the ball crossed the line.
VAR intervened within seconds. Ibañez was a shoulder offside, and the opener was chalked off. It was a notable twist, particulary as the simultaneous fixture between Al-Fateh and Damac in Al-Ahsa featured a celebration aimed squarely at Al-Ahli and VAR.
Earlier in the week, Damac equalised late against Al-Ahli via Yakou Méïté, only for the goal to be overturned. Méïté reacted angrily and lashed out at referees, but Al-Ahli escaped with the three points. Méïté followed up with a goal against Al-Fateh, and celebrated by mimicking the referee’s VAR signal.
Back in Riyadh, Al-Ahli returned for the second half with renewed intensity. Zakaria Hawsawi grew more adventurous from left-back, threading lofted balls over the Al-Riyadh defence.
In the 53rd minute, he found Toney behind the last defender, but the Englishman’s volley was adeptly saved by Borjan. Five minutes later, Galeno latched onto Hawsawi’s cross and thought he had broken the deadlock — only for the linesman’s flag to rise once again.
Al-Ahli pushed, but as time ticked away, it seemed the coveted winner would elude them. However, once again, set pieces proved decisive.
In the 75th minute, a corner from Saleh Abu Al-Shamat was parried by Borjan, only for his effort to be bundled into his own net, sending the travelling supporters into a frenzy.
After last week’s scare, Al-Ahli knew they had to finish the job. Cue Ibañez, who surged forward from deep before slipping the ball through to Toney to seal the game with what would have been his 24th goal of the season. The run itself deserved a goal, but Toney was flagged inches offside.
Despite another difficult outing, Al-Ahli did enough to secure a clean sheet and grind out a 1-0 victory to move top on 59 points — one ahead of Al-Nassr, who are yet to play this weekend.
Elsewhere, Méïté’s equaliser was later cancelled out by a 77th-minute Mourad Batna penalty, in a match that saw fans commemorate him for surpassing 100 goal contributions with Al-Fateh.
Batna had earlier missed from the spot to the frustation of the home fans, but Al-Fateh’s undefeated streak against Damac at home remains intact as the encounter ended 1-1.
Saudi Pro League action resumes on Friday, with Al-Hazem hosting Al-Ettifaq, Al-Ittihad welcoming Al-Khaleej, and one of Riyadh’s top derbies in Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal. All games kick-off at 10:00pm, in the league’s unified Ramadan schedule.
