Cristiano Ronaldo sighed in frustration with Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League match on Tuesday being delayed due to the team bus breaking down.
Al Nassr were travelling to Al Wehda’s stadium in preparation for the scheduled 4pm UK time kick-off, however, the away side arrived late.
Approximately 30 minutes after the original kick-off time footage of the Al Nassr players emerging for their warm-up also emerged.
It’s understood the match has been rescheduled for a 5pm kick-off, an hour after it was due to start.
Al Nassr currently sit fourth in the Saudi Pro League, 11 points behind leaders Al Ittihad.
Stefano Pioli’s side will aim to correct their mistakes last week which saw them lose 3-2 against Al-Ettifaq, formerly managed by Steven Gerrard.
A frustrating game which ended with Jhon Duran seeing red in stoppage time.
The referee’s decision to send the former Aston Villa striker off enraged Ronaldo, who could be seen protesting the decision.
After arguing with the referee, the 40-year-old confronted the assistant referee inside the centre circle.
His emotions reached boiling point as he booted the ball from the centre circle and off the pitch.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Pioli appeared to criticise both Duran and Ronaldo for their antics.
“I’m not happy with the red card, [but] our players have to be calm,” he said.
He added: “We could have played better, but mistakes cost me a lot today and caused the loss. Today’s match started well and we took the lead, but what made the difference were the mistakes.
“Everyone is responsible for mistakes, I am the first one responsible for correcting mistakes and we do the work very seriously.
“We did not lose the match for tactical reasons, but because of the individual mistakes we made.”
On the weekend Ronaldo was expected to be seen at Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 but instead he was with the Saudi Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman at the Saudi Cup, the world’s richest horse race.
But now Ronaldo is refocused and ready to claim his second Saudi Pro League golden boot, currently joint-top scorer of the Saudi top flight with Karim Benzema – the Real Madrid pair have 16 goals each this term.
With 12 games left the Portuguese star will aim to beat last season’s tally of 35.