With added coverage comes added scrutiny and there is a feeling that the league was too lenient when punishing chants about the late Portugal forward
The good thing about Cristiano Ronaldo playing in your league is that he is one of the most famous footballers ever and when he scores a great goal or reaches 1,000 (just 21 to go), many people watch. The bad thing about Cristiano Ronaldo playing in your league is that when something negative happens and he is involved, just as many people will watch and listen. Global attention is something that the big European leagues have had for years but it is something the Saudi Pro League, which has spent billions in search of achieving a similar stature, needs to get used to.
On Sunday 13 September, Ronaldo wrote to his 680 million Instagram followers to discuss the events of Saturday evening. That was when Al-Taawoun supporters were coming to terms with a 6-0 home thrashing by Al-Hilal, whose £150m-plus forward line, Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli, got five between them. Fair to say that some handled it better than others as what followed was in the worst possible taste.
