The crowd of Iranian football fans gave Cristiano Ronaldo an excited welcome on Monday when his Saudi team arrived in Tehran for the first home and removed Club draw since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.
Fans sang the name of the Portuguese five-time global player of the year when he arrived with his Al Nassr teammates to combat the leading club of Iran in the Asian Champions League on Tuesday.
The crowd of Iranian football fans gave Cristiano Ronaldo an excited welcome on Monday when his Saudi team arrived in Tehran for the first home and removed Club draw since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.
Fans sang the name of the Portuguese five-time global player of the year when he arrived with his Al Nassr teammates to combat the leading club of Iran in the Asian Champions League on Tuesday. The competition will be the first since Tehran and Riyadh reached a China -Baddaden deal that was announced in March. Teams from both countries had only played matches on neutral grounds since 2016 when the Sunni majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite majority Iran broke tires.
In Tehran the excitement filled the air while fans eagerly waited to catch a glimpse of 38-year-old Ronaldo when he left Iran’s airport in Imam Khomeini with his teammates.
“It was a very good feeling, and we all enjoyed it,” said Al Nassr manager Luis Castro in his press conference.
“We saw a series of scenes and many Iranian fans even held Nassr team shirts, which was a pleasant event for us.”
Large crowd of cheering fans passed the streets when Ronaldo arrived on board the team bus in a hotel in Tehran.
Others sing “Ronaldo, Ronaldo!” Even flooded in the hotel lobby.
Posters of the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus star with “Welcome”, written in Arabic, Engels and Farsi in the main streets of the Iranian capital.
Prior to the competition, Persepolis manager Yahya Golmohammadi expressed his luck in organizing the “great team” of Al Nassr, but said his team was the same as the challenge of taking on the Saudi club. “I think it will be a wonderful game and will have a lot of excitement,” said 28-year-old Navid Borhanifar, a Ronaldo fan.
“It’s very exciting for me.”
Unfortunately for the fans, nobody is allowed to attend the competition that will be held in the gigantic Azadi stage, which can organize up to 90,000 people.
Both managers have complained the absence of the fans.
“An empty stadium does not give the taste of real football,” Castro said.
“We are sad that this great game is without spectators,” are Golmohammadi Saidronaldo and his teammates are placed under the protection of an “elite unit”, specialized in obtaining presidential visits, according to sports website Varzesh 3.
The unit will be in charge of “preventing any contact between fans and players of the Saudi team,” it added.
Ronaldo’s arrival also led a debate about the internet restrictions of Iran.
Iran has imposed strict sidewalks – including whatsapp and Instagram – since last year’s massive protests caused by the death of Mahsa Amini.
Last week Persepolis’s general director Reza Darvish suggested that the Saudi team got SIM cards with unfiltered internet access.
“I spoke with the CEO of Irancell (a local provider and sponsor of Persepolis) and asked for SIM cards for … players and those who accompany them with unlimited internet,” he said .ronaldo himself has more than 604 million Instagram followers followers .
The Asian Champions League 2023-2024 officially starts this week with the spotlights on Saudi Arabia, who lured a large number of stars next to Ronaldo, including Karim Benzema, Neymar and Sadio Mane.
Persepolis is one of Iran and the most successful clubs in the region and reached the final of the Asian Champions League in 2018 and 2020, while Al Nassr won the tournament in 1995.
Other competitions between the two countries will take place in the coming weeks. Al Ittihad from Saudi will play Iran’s Sepahan on October 2, and Saudi club Al Hilal will meet the Iran’s Nassaji Mazandaran on 3 October.
Teams from both countries had only played matches on neutral grounds since 2016 when the Sunni majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite majority Iran broke tires.
In Tehran the excitement filled the air while fans eagerly waited to catch a glimpse of 38-year-old Ronaldo when he left Iran’s airport in Imam Khomeini with his teammates.
“It was a very good feeling, and we all enjoyed it,” said Al Nassr manager Luis Castro in his press conference.
“We saw a series of scenes and many Iranian fans even held Nassr team shirts, which was a pleasant event for us.”
Large crowd of cheering fans passed the streets when Ronaldo arrived on board the team bus in a hotel in Tehran.
Others sing “Ronaldo, Ronaldo!” Even flooded in the hotel lobby.
Posters of the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus star with “Welcome”, written in Arabic, Engels and Farsi in the main streets of the Iranian capital.
Prior to the competition, Persepolis manager Yahya Golmohammadi expressed his luck in organizing the “great team” of Al Nassr, but said his team was the same as the challenge of taking on the Saudi club. “I think it will be a wonderful game and will have a lot of excitement,” said 28-year-old Navid Borhanifar, a Ronaldo fan.
“It’s very exciting for me.”
Unfortunately for the fans, nobody is allowed to attend the competition that will be held in the gigantic Azadi stage, which can organize up to 90,000 people.
Both managers have complained the absence of the fans.
“An empty stadium does not give the taste of real football,” Castro said.
The unit will be in charge of “preventing any contact between fans and players of the Saudi team,” it added.
Ronaldo’s arrival also led a debate about the internet restrictions of Iran.
Iran has imposed strict sidewalks – including whatsapp and Instagram – since last year’s massive protests caused by the death of Mahsa Amini.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, was arrested for alleged violation of the clothing regulations of the Islamic Republic for Women.
Last week Persepolis’s general director Reza Darvish suggested that the Saudi team got SIM cards with unfiltered internet access.
“I spoke with the CEO of Irancell (a local provider and sponsor of Persepolis) and asked for SIM cards for … players and those who accompany them with unlimited internet,” he said .ronaldo himself has more than 604 million Instagram followers followers .
The Asian Champions League 2023-2024 officially starts this week with the spotlights on Saudi Arabia, who lured a large number of stars next to Ronaldo, including Karim Benzema, Neymar and Sadio Mane.
Persepolis is one of Iran and the most successful clubs in the region and reached the final of the Asian Champions League in 2018 and 2020, while Al Nassr won the tournament in 1995.
Other competitions between the two countries will take place in the coming weeks. Al Ittihad from Saudi will play Iran’s Sepahan on October 2, and Saudi club Al Hilal will meet the Iran’s Nassaji Mazandaran on 3 October.