Excited fans continuously rushed into the field and attacked Cristiano Ronaldo, making the superstar uncomfortable, except for one special case.
According to ESPN statistics , there were 6 enthusiastic fans rushing into the field during Portugal’s 3-0 win over Turkey on the evening of June 22. The Daily Mail counted 8 such cases, including the time after the match ended. All of these audiences have the same goal. It’s taking a selfie with their idol Cristiano Ronaldo.
In the 70th minute of the match at Westfalen Stadium (Dortmund), a teenage fan broke through the security fence to enter the field and asked to take a photo with Ronaldo. The star of the Portuguese team happily took pictures with this boy.
After fulfilling his wish, this young fan ran out of the field, evading the security staff – who seemed to not want to be harsh with the young audience.
The first fan ran into the field and asked to take a photo with Ronaldo
Selfie photo of a young fan.
About 15 minutes later, another fan ran into the field to ask to take a photo with Ronaldo. This person even used one hand to hold Ronaldo’s neck but in the end did not have time to take a photo with the idol when security staff came to intervene.
The captain of the Portuguese team began to show discomfort.
The second fan ran onto the field to take a selfie with Ronaldo
On both occasions, German referee Felix Zwayer was forced to pause the match until security guards took the two fans mentioned above away from the field.
According to ESPN , two more fans entered the field to ask to take photos with Ronaldo during extra time. When the match ended, two more fans ran to Ronaldo.
The Independent newspaper described Ronaldo as being upset when many fans bypassed security forces to run onto the field, causing the match to be interrupted.
Ronaldo’s teammate Goncalo Ramos accidentally “got into trouble” because of the extremists. Specifically, when rushing to control a spectator who sneaked down from the stands, a security guard slipped and… ran straight into Ramos.
Ronaldo was unhappy when there were too many fans constantly running onto the field
In the post-match press conference, the head coach of the Portuguese team, Roberto Martinez, was not happy when the fans ran onto the field.
He emphasized that this should not happen and urged other fans not to imitate it.
Ronaldo expressed his discomfort when more fans entered the field
“ This is indeed worrying but today we are lucky because the fans’ intentions are good. These fans just want to enter the field to take pictures with their stars and idols. However, there will be awkward situations if the fans have bad intentions. Incidents like this should not happen, especially when there are security forces at work.
I want to send a message to the fans that this is not the right action. Things could get worse if past incidents repeat themselves in the future. It’s not good for the players when they come into contact with fans breаking into the field ,” coach Roberto Martinez said.