{"id":868527,"date":"2026-08-26T02:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T02:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868527\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T02:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T02:16:13","slug":"ronaldo-fumes-snubs-celebrations-over-shock-call-as-ange-pulls-off-epic-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868527\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronaldo fumes, snubs celebrations over shock call as Ange pulls off epic comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ange Postecoglou\u2019s Al-Nassr came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 with only ten men after the Australian manager subbed off Cristiano Ronaldo at half time of a Saudi Pro League clash on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Postecoglou\u2019s side completed the heist away to fellow Australian Arthur Papas\u2019 Al-Ettifaq with three goals in the space of 17 minutes, including a 91st minute from former Liverpool star Sadio Mane &#8211; who scored a brace.<\/p>\n<p>\ufeffGet all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/newsletter-sign-up?utm_source=FootballArticle&amp;utm_medium=TextLink&amp;utm_campaign=signup\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The victory means the defending champions boast a perfect three wins from three games and are sitting at the top of the table as the only team yet to drop points this season.<\/p>\n<p>Al-Nassr\u2019s leading man Ronaldo started for the first time this season after being eased back following the World Cup and his wedding.<\/p>\n<p>But Postecoglou whisked him off at the break and replaced the Portuguese icon with midfielder Abdullah Al-Khaibari.<\/p>\n<p>The former Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and Celtic boss had already been forced to make a substitution early in the game with goalkeeper Bento sent off in the 12th minute.<\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo clearly displayed his frustration as he headed down the tunnel, and was not part of the post-game celebrations with teammates in front of the travelling Al-Nassr fans.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE<\/p>\n<p>\ufeff\u2018Hard to believe\u2019: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/epl-2026-australias-lucas-herrington-makes-first-start-for-hull-city-and-wins-player-of-the-match-tigers-defeat-stoke-city-on-penalties-to-advance-to-third-round-of-efl-cup-latest-news-video-highlights\/news-story\/0958591c87eb66c6dbd66cd243542262\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Aussie teen makes his mark in first start for PL club as WC repeat avoided<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ufeff\u2018Monumental disaster\u2019: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/uefa-champions-league-2026-celtic-blow-four-goal-lead-against-australias-lask-in-playoff-qualifier-martin-oneill-says-its-one-of-the-clubs-worst-european-nights-match-report-video-highlights\/news-story\/927c3cebee2fbfa89ecbfac855f5ddfb\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Scottish champs blow FOUR goal lead in CL qualifier \u2018horror\u2019 show<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I made the substitutions, including taking Ronaldo off, I believed the players coming on could make an impact,\u201d Postecoglou told reporters when asked about his decision to substitute the five-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI came here to help the players, so as I said, I\u2019m proud of them because every substitute made a positive contribution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m here to help the team with what I see, and everyone knows that Ronaldo hasn\u2019t played in a long time. He performed exceptionally well in the first half, and we opted for a different approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Postecoglou offered some insight into that approach and also praised the rest of his players.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m proud of the players despite the high humidity, difficult conditions, the team being a man down, and being behind in the score,\u201d Postecoglou said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the second half, we showed courage, and I\u2019m happy for them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we went into half-time two goals down, I told the players that the two goals could be overturned because they came from shots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had an opportunity to make use of the wings, and that\u2019s what we did. Honestly, what happened today is something to be proud of because my team secured a win under exhausting and difficult circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Postecoglou and Papas worked together in Japan with Yokohama F.Marinos as with the former Newcastle Jets manager serving as Postecoglou\u2019s assistant in a title-winning season in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Papas has since made a splash in Saudi Arabia, winning the first two games of the league campaign after being appointed as Al-Ettifaq\u2019s new manager in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ange Postecoglou\u2019s Al-Nassr came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 with only ten men after the Australian manager&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-868527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}