Considering the goal stood, there’s been plenty made of Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.
Paving the way for a 3-0 Champions League semi-final first leg win over their city rivals, there was much debate as to whether the goal should have been ruled out for offside.
Ronaldo, who also bagged the other two goals of the night, was undoubtedly in an offside position when the initial cross was played in his direction. After this was partially cleared, Ronaldo returned to an onside position and was able to nod home the second cross.
Even though the goal wasn’t struck off, footage from the Bernabeu tunnel has shown that the Portugal captain still felt the need to seek out referee Martin Atkinson at half-time to check that all was good with the goal.
Atkinson can be heard explaining in the video below that Ronaldo was indeed offside to begin with, but play was allowed to continue on the basis that he didn’t interfere with play at this stage.
Have a listen below. We particularly enjoy the way Ronaldo simply refers to the Premier League ref by his surname…
https://twitter.com/_watsonSport/status/859706692740710400
Ronaldo and his Real teammates are unlikely to blow a three goal lead in the return at the Vincente Calderon next week – the two clubs’ final meeting at the stadium before Atleti move to their new ground ahead of next season.
