A HONDURAN referee has lifted the lid on a heated exchange he had with a “difficult” Cristiano Ronaldo after revealing what it’s truly like to manage the superstar on the pitch.

One of the spats ended with the Portuguese striker later offering a sincere apology.

3

3

Advertisement

Said Martinez has officiated a number of games involving Ronaldo throughout his career.

And he has now recounted one particularly edgy incident involving the former Man Utd and Real Madrid star.

Martinez claimed that he was refereeing an Al-Nassr game when he disallowed two of the 39-year-old’s goals for offside.

An irate Ronaldo reportedly made his feelings surrounding the quality of Martinez’s officiating known.

Martinez told Mexican outlet Mediotiempo: “Cristiano Ronaldo is very difficult due to his temperament.

“He is a very competitive person, which makes him feel there’s a lot of injustice towards him, so he complains a lot.

“We disallowed two goals for him, with VAR and everything, but there was a play that upset him because he felt he was fouled in attack, leading to a goal against them. They were losing.

The 33-year-old added: “He stayed 10 metres away from me and said: ‘It’s always the same with you lot, you always think you’re the stars.

FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS

“‘But we don’t bring you here to be the stars, we are the stars’, in perfect Spanish.

“He started calmly but then got agitated and I just looked at him provocatively to see if he would get closer to me, but he didn’t.”

However the Fifa-accredited official spoke to Ronaldo about their disagreement in the tunnel after reviewing the incidents.

The referee said: “After checking the VAR, I asked him to come closer. Cristiano is Cristiano, and if he doesn’t want to come, he won’t.

“But he came over to where I was and I said to him: ‘You’re a great player, but what you said at half-time isn’t right. I respect you a lot, but we’re here to do our job just like you are’.

“He replied: ‘Yes, you’re right; it wasn’t the right way to express myself. I apologise’.”

Ronaldo’s ultimate expression of regret speaks volumes about his sporting personality.

Martinez then revealed that the Portugal captain left him alone in the second half and went on to score a stunning free-kick.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo has received 12 red cards in his career.

Of those, eight were direct red cards and four dismissals have come through double yellow cards.

The former Juventus star was booked for dissent during Portugal’s defeat to Georgia in Euro 2024.

3

Glasgow: Rowe, Dobie, Jones, McDowall (c), Cordero, Hastings, Horne; Bhatti, Matthews, Fagerson, Brown, Cummings, Ferrie, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Stewart, McBeth, Schickerling, Samuel, Williamson, Venter, Afshar, Jordan.

Zebre: Prisciantelli, Trulla, Paea, Gregory, Gesi, Da Re, Garcia; Rizzoli, Ribaldi, Nocera, Krumov, Zambonin, Ferrari, Andreani, Licata (c).

Replacements: Bigi, Taddei, Neculai, Canali, Bianchi, Fusco, Mazza, Cambriani.

Carlos Ulberg thinks his chance to challenge UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira could come sooner than expected.

Ulberg (10-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) takes on former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir (20-7 MMA, 8-6 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 248 Nov. 23 from Galaxy Arena in Macau, China.

Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is fresh off his third light heavyweight title defense – a brutal fourth-round finish of Khalil Rountree in the UFC 307 headliner. A former kickboxer himself, Ulberg wasn’t surprised to see Rountree pose problems for Pereira.

“I had my money on Rountree,” Ulberg told Sky Sport New Zealand. “I thought Rountree would do well, given he’s quite explosive and it’ll give a different look to Alex Pereira. But as the rounds went on, I think Pereira came back and he stuck to his game plan, which was to tire him out and make use of the explosive power Rountree was using and over-using.”

Watching No. 8 ranked Rountree get a title shot, Ulberg won’t rule out the possibility of getting his chance with a win over Oezdemir.

“I’ve been studying Alex for a while now. He’s at the top and he’s the prime right now,” Ulberg said. “He’s definitely someone that everyone’s keeping an eye on, so knowing that he’s got a high fight IQ, it is always good to sit back and see how he operates in the octagon.

“I’m coming up, and soon I’ll get my chance. …  Once I get through Oezdemir, which is going to be a hard task for sure, it’s free rein from there and it’ll give me the opportunity to go for the light heavyweight title. As you’ve seen the No. 8 who’s just fought for the light heavyweight title, at any given time we’re going to be called up for that.”

Ulberg has some adversity to deal with before stepping into the cage against Oezdemir. The City Kickboxing standout revealed that he broke his toe six weeks’ out of his fight, but has no intentions of pulling out.

“I just broke my toe yesterday in sparring and didn’t realize that I’d broken it until doing my sit-ups and seeing it was facing the other way,” Ulberg said. “It’s just going through all that pain and struggle, and doing it all over again the next day. So, until then, it’s just doing what I need to do, what’s been working in my favor in the past, and just trying to keep to the same formula really.”

Cory Sandhagen sees a potential fight against Sean O’Malley as a no-brainer.

Sandhagen (17-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC), a former title challenger and long-time UFC bantamweight contender, is hoping to get booked against O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), and is surprised that there’s not a big effort, at least for now, by the promotion to get that fight done.

Speaking on Michael Bisping’s YouTube channel, Sandhagen continued his push for a fight against the former UFC champion, and even said he’d be willing until June – O’Malley’s targeted return.

“You read all the comments, and you talk to fans, and you talk to people, and that’s the fight everyone wants to see happen,” Sandhagen said. “I’m actually kind of surprised the UFC hasn’t come to me or Sean, hasn’t said anything about that fight yet or anything, or (the UFC) asked, ‘Hey, are you willing to wait till June?’ because I would entertain that big time.

“I think a big piece I’ve been able to appreciate lately is I really want to give fans what they’re paying to see, and if it means waiting to give fans a fight they’re most excited for, I would definitely big time entertain that. I would rather not have it all the way in June, but there’s no better fight you can make. Me and O’Malley is a banger of a fight.”

Sandhagen said he was offered a fight against Deiveson Figueiredo for late 2024, but Figueiredo turned it down, and now the UFC will look to book Figueiredo against Petr Yan.

Not wanting to fight too down the UFC bantamweight rankings, Sandhagen sees O’Malley as the only viable option, as he’s coming off a championship loss to Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306 last month.

“I feel like O’Malley is the only fight,” Sandhagen said. “Maybe the winner of Yan and Figgy if O’Malley is going to be weird and still not bring me up or mention that fight or anything like that. So yeah, that’s what I’m looking at.”

At the 2018 finals in Russia, Zlatko Dalic led a nation with a smaller population than that of Scotland to the zenith of international football when they contested the World Cup final. They would come up short against France on the day.

Croatia reaching that showpiece was a surprise, but Modric is the very embodiment of upsetting the odds.

He and his family had to flee their home near the Dalmatian city of Zadar due to the Croatian War of Independence that provided the backdrop to his childhood.

As a Dinamo Zagreb graduate, 20 years ago, he was sent on loan to Bosnian club Zrinjski Mostar. For a young Croatian, that will have been an eye-opener.

In the ensuing two decades, Modric has won six Champions League titles, five Super Cups, four Spanish titles and five Club World Cups alongside the 180 caps he has proudly amassed in Croatia’s red and white checks.

Yet, when he made big-money moves to Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid, where he has won anything and everything, he was written off by many. He is currently enjoying his 13th season at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“I’m still here, motivated as before,” Modric said last month. “I am most proud to play for Croatia. I think I can still help.”

He was right as he followed up that statement with a complete masterclass against Poland on matchday two in Osijek in which he scored the only goal of the game with a superbly executed free-kick.

Scotland actually have a winning record against the Croats and are unbeaten on their two previous visits to Zagreb.

However, their two victories during the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, including an unexpected triumph in the Croatian capital, came after the qualification horse had long since bolted.

More recently, the Scots were on the receiving end of Modric wizardry in what was their must-win final group match of Euro 2020. Croatia eased to a 3-1 victory at Hampden Park, with the veteran scoring the second, and the game exposed a big gap between the teams.

To remain in contention in the current Nations League section and maintain hopes of a place in pot one or two for next year’s World Cup qualifiers, this is a game Scotland will probably have to win.

The trouble is that Croatia do not lose at home very often. That Scotland victory 11 years ago is one of only seven competitive defeats suffered on their own soil since Croatia entered the Fifa rankings in 1994.

Like Scotland, they had a disappointing European Championship in Germany, exiting at the group stage after conceding late goals against Albania and Italy in a tough group. Eventual winners Spain topped the section.

However, that anti-climax does not detract from the fact this will be a very tough assignment.