Cristiano Ronaldo has been banned from making his much vaunted debut for his Saudi Arabian side tomorrow night, Mail Online can reveal.
His new club Al Nassr, who are reportedly paying him £175 million a year, have sold all 28,000 seats for the match against Al Ta’ee and were set to see him kick-off his Arabian venture amid huge fanfare.
But the self-proclaimed ‘unique’ player, who left Manchester United in acrimony, is still to be punished for a misdemeanour and has been told he is barred from starring for Al Nassr, a source revealed.
He was found guilty of improper and violent conduct after he smashed an Everton fan’s phone from his hand after United lost a match at Goodison Park last April.
He slapped the hand of Jacob Harding as he stormed down the tunnel, damaging the boy’s phone.
His mother Sarah Kelly said her son’s hand was also bruised by Ronaldo.
While the investigation was ongoing last month, it was reported that Ronaldo would accept an improper conduct charge from the FA, but was determined to fight the threat of a potential ban.
The Independent FA panel was chaired by Christopher Quinlan KC and it found Ronaldo guilty of ‘a deliberate and forceful slap down’ which was ‘a petulant act.’
Ronaldo told the hearing via an electronic submission that the atmosphere at the Everton game had been ‘feverish’ and hostile.
He said he was injured by a heavy tackle late in the match but remained on the pitch. The United players left the pitch by way of a walkway which was not the regular players’ tunnel, he said.
Ronaldo said the crowd was aggressive and he and other United players were abused by Everton supporters/followers as they left the pitch.
The striker said that as he walked along the walkway, he caught sight of an arm quite low in front of him pointing towards his injured leg.
He said he could not see to whom the arm belonged but could see it was ‘holding an object’ but he did not know what.
