Cristiano Ronaldo bore down on goal in the closing moments of Portugal’s 2-1 Nations League victory over Scotland, only to spot a pitch invader in his eyesight that forced him to alter his run, with the ball running past the furious Manchester United legend and their attack coming to nothing.
The 39-year-old scored his 901st career goal in the 88th minute to give Portugal all three points, but the match had to be stopped in stoppage time when an intruder ran onto the field of play.
A cross came in from the left and Ronaldo was waiting at the back post, but the pitch invader appeared next to him as Ronaldo looked to get on the end of the ball across the face of the goal.
Ronaldo was unable to get to the cross, then the Al-Nassr forward ran towards the corner flag and was followed by the unwanted guest.
They were removed by security immediately but all 22 players were forced to wait until they were fully off the pitch to resume play.
Former United midfielder Scott McTominay gave Scotland a dream start, scoring seven minutes into the contest at Estadio da Luz, but his effort was cancelled out by Red Devils captain Bruno Fernandes from range.
Fernandes got into a furious row with Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn shortly after, before Ronaldo once again silences his doubters surrounding his continued participation with his national team by bagging the winner.
Paris Saint-Germain left-back Nuno Mendes swung in a perfect cross that flashed across goal and was tapped home by the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who turns 40 in February.
He darted to the corner flag to treat his home supporters with a trademark ‘Siu’ celebration, but his delight soon turned to anguish when he was denied the chance to score a second as a result of the pitch invader.
It is not the first time that Ronaldo has been targeted by fans storming the pitch, as Portugal complained during Euro 2024 when five pitch invaders ran up to the legendary striker during their victory over Turkey.
“It is a concern because today we were lucky that the intentions of the fans were good,” Portugal boss Roberto Martinez said in June. “We all love a fan who recognises the big stars and the big icons in their life. We all agree with that. But there is a very, very difficult moments if those intentions are wrong – the players are exposed and we need to be careful with that.
“I don’t think that should happen on a football pitch. There is a lot of security and a lot of protection and it should not happen. And probably we should give a message to the fans that it’s not (the) right way; you’re not going to get anything out of it and probably the measures will get worse for the future. It’s not good to have the players so exposed when people are running on the pitch.”
