Foot: Christiano Ronaldo unleashes passions in Iran
Iranians warmly greeted Christiano Ronaldo from the Saudi team Al Nassr on Monday, marking a historic moment made possible by the diplomatic rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates were welcomed with cheers of joy by dozens of Iranian fans as they disembarked from the bus at Imam Khomeiny Airport in the early afternoon, all wearing broad smiles.
Beforehand, «CR7», the nickname of the 38-year-old Portuguese international, had been presented with a splendid Persian carpet by the president of the Persepolis club as a gesture of welcome.
Large banners bearing the word «Welcome» with portraits of Al-Nassr stars hung on the bridges of major thoroughfares in the vast Iranian capital, an uncommon sight due to the country’s diplomatic isolation.
Navid Borhanifar, a 28-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo fan, expressed his excitement, saying, «This is very exciting! I hope to see a fantastic match between the Al-Nassr stars and the experienced players from Persepolis».
Unfortunately, no fans will be allowed to attend the match scheduled for this Tuesday at Azadi Stadium, the country’s largest with a capacity of 90,000, due to a sanction imposed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) following a controversial post on Persepolis’ Instagram page in 2021.
Nevertheless, the closed-door match will be broadcast on television at 9:30 PM local time (18:00 GMT).
In preparation for the match, Al-Nassr players will be under the protection of an «elite unit» of law enforcement, specialized in presidential travel, according to the sports website Varzesh 3.
This unit will be tasked with preventing any contact between fans and the Saudi team players.
In terms of sports, the goal is to start the Asian Champions League on a strong note, with Saudi clubs now considered favorites after significantly strengthening their squads during the summer, including the arrivals of Senegalese Sadio Mané and Ivorian Séko Fofana to Al-Nassr. The Saudi team will seek to avenge their loss to the Reds in the 2020 competition’s semi-finals.
As the most successful and popular club in Iran, Persepolis reached the final of the competition twice in 2018 and 2020, while Al-Nassr won it in 1995.
This match also holds a diplomatic dimension as it pits Saudi and Iranian clubs against each other on the opponent’s turf, unlike the practice of the past seven years, where matches were played on neutral ground.
On Monday evening, another Saudi club, Al-Ittihad, was set to host the Iranian team Sepahan in Riyadh.
The AFC gave its approval in August, five months after the resumption of relations between the two Middle Eastern powerhouses, an agreement brokered in March under the auspices of China.
Saudi Arabia, predominantly Sunni, and Iran, predominantly Shia, severed ties in 2016 after the attack on Saudi diplomatic missions by Iranian protesters, who were demonstrating against Riyadh’s execution of a Shia cleric.
The resumption of relations was described at the time as «unfortunate».
