Al-Hilal captain Salem Al-Dawsari rubbed further salt into Cristiano Ronaldo‘s wounds as he copied Lionel Messi‘s celebration when he lifted the World Cup in 2022.
Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr were on the wrong side of a 4-1 battering in the Saudi Super Cup final as a brace from Aleksandar Mitrovic as well as goals from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Malcom wrapped up the win for Al-Hilal.
Evidently not content with just beating Ronaldo in the final, Salem wanted to twist the knife even further when it came time to the trophy presentation.
After receiving the trophy, Salem bobbed from side to side as he made his way in front of his teammates before hoisting the silverware aloft.
It was a carbon copy of what Messi did at the World Cup in Qatar when he led Argentina to a thrilling penalty shootout victory over France in the final.
Al Hilal’s captain recreating Messi’s 2022 World Cup celebration while the fans chant Messi’s name.😂 pic.twitter.com/vWcYmfwN0K
— BeksFCB (@Joshua_Ubeku) August 17, 2024
Salem celebrates after leading Al-Hilal to victory over Al-Nassr in the Saudi Super Cup final
It was a Saudi Super Cup final to forget for Cristiano Ronaldo as his side got smashed 4-1
Al-Hilal captain Salem Al-Dawsari copied Lionel Messi’s trophy celebration at the World Cup
Messi slowly bobbed his way to the front of the stage before lifting the trophy with his team
https://twitter.com/Troll__Footbal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1824872377081319466%7Ctwgr%5E36bdcb7fd56f8d1f8f277f300f72cb23af226fad%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Farticle-13753955%2FCristiano-Ronaldo-trolled-rival-captain-recreates-Lionel-Messi-celebration.html
If replicating Messi’s World Cup celebration wasn’t enough, Ronaldo also had to cope with Al-Hilal fans chanting the Argentinian’s name when he was down 4-1.
Al Hilal’s fourth goal of the evening also sparked a furious response from the 39-year-old.
Malcom had capitalised on some careless passing by Al-Nassr in their box to score, prompting Ronaldo to gesture to his team-mates that they had been ‘sleeping’.
Ronaldo’s frustration for the evening wasn’t done yet as he made a beeline for the exit after the game was done.
It meant the Portuguese superstar, who is also the poster boy for football in Saudi Arabia, was a no-show for the medal presentation.
Victory in the Saudi Super Cup would have secured Ronaldo’s second piece of silverware since arriving in the Gulf nation.
Ronaldo gestured to say his teammates were sleeping when they conceded their fourth goal
The 39-year-old won the Arab Club Champions Cup in August last year when Al-Nassr beat Al-Hilal 2-1 in extra time.
Ronaldo was unsurprisingly the hero on that day as he scored both of Al-Nassr’s goals in the final.