FIFA World Player Of The Year nominee Cristiano Ronaldo actually scored four goals against Atletico Madrid, in the Madrid derby this past weekend. The Portuguese International scored a brilliant hat-trick but must surely have been livid when he scored a legal goal that was disallowed as a result of bad refereeing.
The score was 0-0 and Real were pressing Atletico heavily up the pitch and were just getting into the groove with attack after attack when a pacy cross was put into Ronaldo, who was in the box. The forward thumped the ball with a powerful header that went into the Atletico goal, but the Atleti keeper Jan Oblak made a low save to his left pushing the ball out.
Images and replays that emerged later showed that the ball had in fact crossed the line and technically, the goal should have stood.
Ronaldo supposedly knew it was a goal and immediately chased the referee trying to convince him that the ball actually went in. It was a crucial moment in the game with the scores tied and La Liga officials will surely look back at the incident and will want to prevent such mistakes in the future.
Although Ronaldo went on to score a decisive hat-trick in what was a stellar performance by him and Real Madrid at the Estadio Vicente Calderon, he could have perhaps bagged four had the goal been allowed by the referee. He will surely be disappointed by the poor refereeing as he looks to win his fourth Ballon d’Or this year. Notably, this was his 39th hat-trick for Real Madid, a feat that will definitely take a lot of time to match.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane reckons and firmly believes that Ronaldo should be awarded the World Player Of The Year award this year, and he made it clear in the post-match press conference.
“Ronaldo near the Golden Ball? I never had any doubts that Cristiano was the best and now he has closed the debate”, he said.
The Portuguese has not been in the greatest of forms this season, yet he has scored 10 goals in 13 games in all competitions for Los Blancos.
Also Read: Best memes of Cristiano Ronaldo's new celebration
Real Madrid will look to regain the La Liga title under Zidane from their fierce rivals Barcelona and Ronaldo will be instrumental in helping them win it. However, La Liga officials must perform better or the league should introduce goalline technology to prevent such wrong decisions from happening again.
