Cristiano Ronaldo suspended for five matches

The Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off in the Spanish Super Cup. He then pushed the referee and has received a lengthy ban for his troubles.

There are many ways to pick up bookings. Probably the most foolish from a player’s perspective is to remove their shirt. Diving in an attempt to fool the referee is not always smart (unless it works, that is).

Ronaldo scored in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup at the weekend. The problem was, he celebrated his goal by taking off his shirt. Cue the inevitable booking.

Two minutes later, he was clean through on goal. Umtiti shoulder barged him, he hit the deck, and the referee decided Ronaldo had dived. A second yellow card was issued, and that should’ve been that.

Except that Real’s talisman reacted to the red card by pushing the referee in the back. The Spanish FA have taken a dim view of that as you would expect. Ronaldo has now been suspended for five matches.

Real may yet appeal the decision, but as it stands he may not appear again until late September. He will miss the second leg of the Super Cup this week, and then the first four league games of the season. Deportivo La Coruna, Valencia, Levante and Real Sociedad will all breathe a sigh of relief in the knowledge they won’t have to face Ronaldo.

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It was the seventh sending off of the Portuguese legend’s club career. Considering they are spread across almost 700 games in which he will have been continually wound up by opposition defenders, that isn’t too bad a record.

He should’ve known better than to react in the way he did, though. Ronaldo’s actions may just give Barcelona a chance of turning round their two-goal deficit in the second leg. That would hurt him far more than any ban will.