Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo used to practise taking penalties so that the ball moves before he strikes it, former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand has said.

Ronaldo scored the equaliser from the spot as Real Madrid beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 at the Bernabeu in a Champions League round-of-16 first leg match on Wednesday. But the ball appeared to pop up on the spot fractions of a second before the Portugal captain fired it past PSG goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.

Slow-motion replays showed that, rather than touching it with his standing foot, Ronaldo had disturbed the turf under the ball, making it move and effectively volleying it at Areola.

And Ferdinand, speaking in his role as a pundit for BT Sport, said: "He used to do that in training, you know.

"He used to mess about in training and do it but to do it in a game. I'm not saying he means it but he used to do it, I swear to you.

"Crazy, but he used to do it."

Had the match officials seen the ball move, the rules of the game mean they would have had to order the penalty to be retaken.

Former Premier League referee Graham Poll told the Daily Mail: "You cannot blame the officials for missing it, as it would have been almost impossible to spot in real time.

"But with the benefit of slow-motion replays, we can see that the ball bobbled up as Ronaldo planted his left foot before slamming it home with his right."

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by ESPN Staff

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