Ronaldo fumes, snubs victory celebration after being substituted

Cristiano Ronaldo endured a frustrating evening as Al-Nassr surrendered a two-goal lead before being hauled off at half-time, only to produce a remarkable comeback and beat Al-Ettifaq 3-2 in the Saudi Pro League on Tuesday.

The reigning Saudi Pro League champions made a disastrous start to their third match of the season when goalkeeper Bento was shown a straight red card in the 12th minute for bringing down Moussa Dembélé while attempting to clear the ball.

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Ondrej Duda put Al-Ettifaq ahead in the 31st minute before Álvaro Medrán doubled the advantage in the third minute of stoppage time.

Ronaldo, making his first start of the season after starring for Portugal at the FIFA World Cup, cut a frustrated figure as he headed towards the dressing room at half-time.

Television cameras caught the 41-year-old gesturing angrily and removing his captain's armband.

New Al-Nassr head coach Ange Postecoglou then made the bold decision to substitute Ronaldo at the interval, but the move ultimately paid off spectacularly.

Sadio Mané pulled one back in the 74th minute before Abdulelah Al-Amri levelled the contest just three minutes later. Mané completed the turnaround in the first minute of stoppage time, racing through one-on-one with the goalkeeper before calmly finishing to secure a remarkable victory for the league leaders.

While Al-Nassr's players celebrated the comeback with their supporters after the final whistle, Ronaldo was notably absent from the celebrations in footage of the scenes.

Postecoglou, however, praised his players for their resilience after playing for most of the match with 10 men and trailing by two goals.

“I’m proud of the players despite the high humidity, difficult conditions, the team being a man down, and being behind in the score,”

Postecoglou said, according to The Nassr Tribune.

“In the second half, we showed courage, and I’m happy for them. I’m here to help the team with what I see, and everyone knows that Ronaldo hasn’t played in a long time. He performed exceptionally well in the first half, and we opted for a different approach.”

The victory maintained Al-Nassr's perfect start to the season, but the attention after the match was as much on Ronaldo's frustration and his early withdrawal as it was on the dramatic comeback.