Cristiano Ronaldo narrowly avoids being two-footed in the face by fan who leapt from crowd

Cristiano Ronaldo had a scary near-miss after Portugal’s 2-0 defeat to Georgia in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday. The Al-Nassr superstar was almost hit by an overzealous fan who leapt from the stands at the Veltins Arena, narrowly avoiding a collision with the former Real Madrid and Manchester United player.

Ronaldo, who was substituted during the match, appeared shocked but thankfully sustained no injuries from the incident. This close call only added to his frustrations of the night, as he failed to score, marking the first time he has not managed to find the back of the net in the group stages of a major international tournament.

Adding to his woes, Ronaldo received a yellow card for vehemently protesting after Pedro Neto was denied a penalty. Despite VAR clearing the incident, Ronaldo continued to argue his case.

Portugal’s manager, Roberto Martinez, backed Ronaldo’s grievances, stating: “We weren’t lucky and then the VAR wasn’t consistent, because there’s a situation with Cristiano.

“We’re talking about what VAR can do. You can look back and give a penalty. The situation in the 27th minute is even clearer, more of a penalty than the one we suffered.

“It was the worst result. It was a game in which we started badly. Conceding the goal really highlighted what the opponent wanted to do. We always had a good attitude, looking at the goal and trying to score the goal.

“Today Georgia had the key moments, the second goal, all the goalkeeper’s energy and performance. We need to congratulate them. And now it’s time to look to the round of 16 and have the team better prepared.

“We don’t want to lose, but we have all the players. We continued to try to control the game, but when the opponent has an advantage to defend it’s different. They have belief and strength. We started and it was another game, it wasn’t a game that we needed to win.”