Cristiano Ronaldo has been fined by UEFA for his goal celebration in Juventus’ win over Atletico Madrid in the round-of-16 of the Champions League.
The Portuguese forward did a ‘crotch celebration’, imitating Diego Simeone in the first leg of the tie.
Atletico Madrid defeated Juventus at the Wanda Metropolitano in the first leg of the round-of-16 tie. During the game, Simeone did the provocative celebration and was fined £17,000 for the act.
However, Juventus dramatically overturned the deficit in the second leg at Turin, as Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win. As he scored the winning goal in the game, he imitated the Atletico Madrid manager, garnering significant reactions from fans and pundits alike.
UEFA has now charged Ronaldo for the celebration.
UEFA fines Ronaldo:
The European governing body for football has charged Cristiano Ronaldo with a £17,700 fine (20,000 euros) for the act.
No ban has been imposed on the Portuguese footballer, which comes as a huge relief for the Juventus camp. The forward was banned earlier this season in the European competition for a game after receiving a straight red card in the match against Valencia in the group stage.
The Italian champions are drawn with Ajax in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, who defeated Ronaldo’s former club Real Madrid in the round-of-16. The Dutch side became the first team to defeat the Los Blancos in the knock-out stage of the competition since May 2015.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been key to Juventus’ season so far. The forward has scored 19 goals in 26 Serie A games for the club so far. Across all competitions, Ronaldo has netted the ball in on 24 occasions in 36 matches.
Juventus are currently at the top of the Italian league, maintaining a 15 point lead over the second-placed Napoli.
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What next?
Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Juventus with the Serie A game against Empoli on March 30. The side takes on Ajax in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal on April 10.
