Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo is known for both great goals and costly moments of petulance, and both of those were on display Sunday against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup, in the span of four minutes no less. Ronaldo came on for Karim Benzema in the 58th minute, eight minutes after Madrid took the lead when Barcelona’s Gerard Pique deflected a cross into his own net, and he definitely made an impact. Lionel Messi equalized for Barcelona on a 77th minute penalty, but three minutes after that, Ronaldo put Madrid back into the lead with a stunning counter-attack run and a superb strike to cap it off:
Here’s another look at that shot from the reverse angle:
Soon after that, the more negative side of Ronaldo was on display, though. He was given a yellow card immediately afterwards for “excessive celebration” for taking off his shirt. You can see that in that second clip, and in more detail here (complete with “No shirt! No problem! commentary):
Not long after that, Ronaldo broke in on goal again, went down, and received a second yellow (and thus, a red card and an ejection) for diving:
Here’s another look at that, and at Ronaldo appealing for a foul as he goes down:
And after the red card, Ronaldo wound up touching the ref (as you can see at the very end of the above clip). His ejection didn’t wind up mattering to this game in the end, as Marco Asensio made it 3-1 Real Madrid in the 90th minute, and they’d hang on for the win. But this ejection was quite unnecessary; taking the first yellow on the celebration penalty was dumb, and while it’s unclear just how much he dived on that second play, the immediate protest to the ref wasn’t smart for someone already on a yellow. And his touch of the ref afterwards might lead to further disciplinary action, and a possible suspension. But Ronaldo’s involvement in this fixture certainly worked out okay for Real Madrid overall. They’d probably prefer just a few more goals and a few less yellow cards, though.
[Soccer 4 Life on Clippit]
