Cristiano Ronaldo threw his hands in the air in belief that he scored a pivotal, and historic, goal for Portugal.
His restraint to unleash his iconic “Siu” celebration, however, suggests he harbored some doubt about who was responsible.
In the 54th minute of Portugal’s 2-0 World Cup win over Uruguay on Monday, the 37-year-old megastar appeared to head in a cross from Bruno Fernandes to give the team a 1-0 lead. The goal would have marked Ronaldo’s ninth at a World Cup, bringing him level with the legendary Eusebio as the nation’s all-time leading scorer at the tournament. Ronaldo’s Portuguese teammates quickly surrounded him and congratulated him as if he had scored.
Amid the party, however, came a surprising twist inside the stadium: Fernandes was announced the goal-scorer, not Ronaldo.
Replays show Ronaldo coming within a hair – literally – of Fernandes’ cross, and although it originally appeared as if he slightly redirected the ball past Uruguayan goalie Sergio Rochet, a closer look reveals me made no contact with the ball.
“I celebrated [the goal] as if it had been Cristiano’s goal,” Fernandes told reporters after the game. “It seemed to me that he had touched the ball. My aim was to cross the ball for him.”
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Amid fierce debate among fans about the rightful scorer, the decision was confirmed on Tuesday morning. Technology used in the Adidas’ official balls for VAR (Video Assistant Referee) conclusively proved that Ronaldo did not make any contact, ESPN reported.
The technology, which primarily is used to help with offsides calls, was able to determine that the ball never changed direction.
“No external force on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack of ‘heartbeat’ in our measurements,” FIFA, on behalf of Adidas, told ESPN in a statement. “The 500Hz IMU sensor inside the ball allows us to be highly accurate in our analysis.”
Regardless of the goal-scorer discrepancy, Ronaldo and Fernandes have both been firing as they’ve already clinched Portugal’s spot in the knockout round. Their chemistry was a bit of mystery entering the tournament, as Ronaldo, who was teammates with Bruno Fernandes at Manchester United, notably parted ways with the club during last week in an acrimonious split.
