After Maradona’s hand, do we have Ronaldo’s ‘elbow of God’?

After a series of positive games and instrumental roles for his club and the Portuguese National Team, Cristiano Ronaldo came back to a ‘normal status’ during Monday’s match against Iran.

He proved he’s human after all and he can make mistakes, such as missing a penalty and also losing his cool.

However his performance against Iran could have been marred had the referee possibly applied a different weight, by some deemed as more appropriate and expelled Ronaldo following an elbowing incident.

It was only after consulting the VAR again, the referee ruled that Ronaldo had elbowed Pouraliganji in the face but that his act only merited a yellow card. It was an action

The Guardian reports that an angry Carlos Queiroz lashed out at Fifa and the VAR system after his Iran team’s 1-1 draw with Portugal and elimination from the World Cup, suggesting the referee could have received instructions not to send off Cristiano Ronaldo during a VAR review for an elbow late in the game.

“You stop the game for VAR, there is an elbow. Elbow. Elbow is a red card in the rules, the rules doesn’t say if it’s Messi or Ronaldo,” said Iran’s Portuguese coach of the incident that floored Morteza Pouraliganji. He implied the referee could have been told to be lenient because Ronaldo is such a big name: “I don’t know if it was this but we have the right to know,” he said.

He suggested that for VAR to work properly, coaches and fans should be able to hear the communication between the referee and the video assistants, as in rugby, addressing his idea to Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president.