Cristiano Ronaldo's true character clear with reaction to referee who disallowed goal

A Honduran referee has revealed he had a fiery encounter with Cristiano Ronaldo that ended with the Portuguese icon apologising to him.

Said Martinez has officiated several matches involving the former Real Madrid star and has opened up on one tense moment with the 39-year-old. During a match in the Saudi Pro League,Martinez disallowed two of Ronaldo’s goals and then proceeded to have a minor spat with him.

The ref later revealed he earned an apology from Ronaldo after the ex-Manchester United forward believed he overstepped the line, which says a lot about his character. However, despite singing his praises, the FIFA recognised official also claimed Ronaldo “complains a lot”.

“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,” Martinez said. “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.

“He stayed ten metres away from me and said: ‘It’s always the same with you lot, you always think you’re the stars, but we don’t bring you here to be the stars, we are the stars,’ in perfect Spanish,” Martinez added. “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.”

Martinez worked up the courage to chastise the legendary goal-scorer for his alleged off-colour remarks, but Ronaldo displayed his true colours by apologising and humbly admitting he approached the situation in the wrong manner.

“After checking the VAR, I asked him to come closer. Cristiano is Cristiano, and if he doesn’t want to come, he won’t,” Martinez said. “But he came over to where I was and I said to him: ‘You’re a great player, but what you said at halftime 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’. Yes, he apologised to me and didn’t complain about anything in the second half and even scored a fantastic free-kick goal.”

While most footballers and officials get to grace the same pitch with some greats of the game, not everyone can say they have shared the same space with both Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. As well as his stand-off with Ronaldo, Martinez also opened up on how he had a conversation with the World Cup winner after he took charge of one of the Barcelona legend’s games.

The ref lifted the lid on the Argentinian’s calm temperament as he officiated on Messi’s debut for Inter Miami in July 2023. Martinez claims the former PSG man has a different style to Ronaldo, claiming how he remains “calm” and gushed over how friendly he really is.

“He (Messi) doesn’t get angry easily. When he complains about something, he is usually calm. I saw the most humble gesture of Messi that day,” Martinez said.

“The whole stadium was chanting his name and he came to shake hands with four Honduran referees. The stadium was chanting ‘Messi Messi Messi Messi’ and he went to shake our hands and congratulated us and gave us a pat on the back and said what a good game and what a good job. That kind of thing is worth more than anything else.”