The situation of Cristiano Ronaldo’s free kick hitting the head of the match cameraman caused a fever on social networks, when Al Nassr won 3-1 against Al Raed.

In the 64th minute, when the away team Al Nassr led 2-0, striker Sadio Mane broke through and was fouled by Oumar Gonzalez right in front of the Al Raed penalty area. At a distance of less than 17 meters, right corner, Ronaldo took a free kick towards the top corner but narrowly missed the post. The ball continued to fly straight into the head of the match cameraman from behind the goal. This person seemed stunned and took some time to regain his footing.

Ronaldo celebrates a goal in the match Al Nassr won against Al Raed in Buraydah city, Saudi Arabia on the evening of September 16, 2023. Photo: ANFC

Video of this situation spread on social networks, attracting millions of views. On Reddit , account Ryujin_707 commented: “This shot is not bad, but really funny. Anyway, I feel sorry for the cameraman.” Account funkybuddha_mtn responded: “This is still better than hitting the bird and killing it.”

Ronaldo also missed another free kick from the wall in this match, in first half stoppage time. It was still Mane who brought home the free kick right on the edge of the penalty area, even causing the fouled player to receive a red card. But Ronaldo hit the home player with a free kick across the line.

The 38-year-old superstar had to wait until the 78th minute to score to increase the score to 3-0, from a pass from Anderson Talisca. Ronaldo turned the ball to his left foot and then shot diagonally to score his seventh goal in the Saudi Pro League this season. He is still leading the tournament’s top scorer race, one goal ahead of Mane and Salem Al-Dawsari.

In recent years, Ronaldo’s free kick performance has decreased significantly. During 2008-2017, the Portuguese striker scored an average of 4.7 free kick goals per year. But since 2018, this parameter has decreased to 1.1 goals per year. However, he scored two free-kick goals this year for Al Nassr.