Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo received the backing of his sister Katia after she blasted the referee over his controversial red card in the Champions League win against Valencia.
The 33-year-old Portugal international created a stir in the summer transfer market when he called time on his successful nine seasons with Real Madrid to join reigning Italian champions Juventus in a transfer worth 100 million euros.
Ronaldo enjoyed the high of scoring his first goals for the Bianconeri at the fourth attempt in Sunday’s 2–1 home win over Sassuolo, but it is the Champions League that he has set his sights on winning in his four years in Turin.
Juve have dominated Serie A for the past seven years and Ronaldo stressed his desire to “take Juve to an even higher level” by helping them win in Europe for the first time since 1996 and claim a sixth Champions League crown of his career in the process.
However, that optimism turned into anguish on Wednesday night as German referee Felix Brych and the assistant referees deemed that he deserved a straight red card for violent conduct after he ruffled the hair of Valencia’s Jeison Murillo.
Ronaldo left the field in tears following the decision in the 29th minute of the game and his sister Katia Aveiro wasted no time in making her feelings known via Instagram.
Along with images of the incident, she posted: “A football disgrace…justice will be done…they want to destroy my brother, but God never sleeps…disgraceful.”
Despite the disappointing end to Ronaldo’s Champions League bow and the fact he will definitely face a one-game European ban, the night ended well for Juventus as Miralem Pjanic scored two penalties to wrap up an opening 2-0 Group H win at La Mestalla.
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