Male football fan invades pitch and tries to kiss Cristiano Ronaldo
A male football fan tried to kiss Cristiano Ronaldo during an international match last night.
Ronaldo was playing in the Portugal squad in Monday night’s friendly against the Netherlands, with the Portuguese team slumping to a 3-0 defeat.
The match at Geneva’s Stade de Genève was interrupted by repeated pitch invasions – with one fan making it over to Ronaldo and trying to get a kiss.
The player looked understandably taken aback during the incident, in which the man – dressed in jeans in a coat – held his hand and attempted to plant a kiss on him.
Another man also invaded the pitch, but given his diminutive stature was unable to reach Ronaldo for a kiss.
The Real Madrid player has previously been targeted with homophobic abuse.
In 2016 he responded to an a jibe from Spanish player Koke, who allegedly called him “a faggot” during the match.
Ronaldo quipped: “Yes, a faggot with a lot of money, a**hole.”
The same year, a Spanish LGBT rights group complained over abuse the star received in a match against Barcelona.
Spanish Observatory Against Homophobia took up the complaint with Spain’s State Commission Against Violence in Sport.
They said: “These deplorable and shameful acts are punishable according to the law of sport.
“Cristiano Ronaldo has been the continued object of insults and malicious rumours regarding his sexual orientation from journalists, players and fans of rival teams in order to humiliate, offend and denigrate a great football player.
“It is necessary to clarify that homophobia does not necessarily mean that people who suffer are homosexual, but only that other people believe it or use it to insult, harass and humiliate others.”
Speaking about gay fans in the past, Ronaldo shrugged off the adulation, saying: “I’m at ease with my sexuality so it’s not a problem for me.”
Homophobia in football has been a topical issue for many years, with almost no openly gay players playing at the international level around the world.
