Chinese fans forgive Cristiano Ronaldo for abandoning selection

Dezenes of thousands of people have been through the Venetian Macau enterprise, which is hosting two pre-season games of the North American Basketball League (NBA) between the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets.

The most visible sweater is by far that of Kyrie Irving, the base of the Mavericks that remains a huge star in China, despite being absent for more than a year and a half due to injury, with the scheduled return for Sunday.

Then comes the jersey of Kevin Durant, the leader of the Rockets, but there were also people who visited the NBA House ('NBA House') in football jerseys, including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“ I also like basketball, but whoever took my football took everything from me,” said 28-year-old Louis Chan who traveled from Zhaoqing, 200 kilometers from Macau.

All with the hope of getting an autograph from David Beckham, former English international footballer who has a partnership with the company that runs the Venetian Macau.

“C Luo [Cristiano Ronaldo in Chinese] is already the best scorer ever in the history of football,” said Chan, who wore an Al Nassr sweater with the name of the captain of the Portuguese national team

Cristiano Ronaldo returned on Friday to the competition and scored the first in Al Nassr's victory over Al Diriyah (3-0), goal number 980 in the career and continues to be the first player to reach a thousand goals in official matches.

The Madeiran advance has already scored 146 goals in the service of Portugal, but the international future of Cristiano Ronaldo is in doubt, having abandoned the internship of the Portuguese team on September 30.

This was after being an unused alternate in the triumph in the visit to Norway (2-1), counting for Group A4 of the League of Nations, having on Tuesday justified the attitude with a lack of confidence by the selectioner Jorge Jesus.

“It is a complete lack of respect [by the selector]. You don't send a star with Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi warms up and then doesn’t play,” Tessie Fang said.

The 35-year-old adept, who wore a Real Madrid sweater with the name of Portuguese, had in 2024 bought tickets to watch Al Nassr play in Shenzhen, in southeastern China.

At the time, Cristiano Ronaldo injured himself and Al Nassr's two privates were canceled, a decision that led Chinese fans to invade the hotel where the Saudi team was staying, to try to see Portuguese.

“ It was a big disappointment, because I had spent hours in front of the computer to buy tickets to the game with Shanghai Shenhua. But one day I hope to have the opportunity to see him play live,” Fang said.

An opportunity Hazhel Galgao had, when the 47-year-old Filipino cook, now working in a Portuguese restaurant in Macau, lived in Saudi Arabia.

“The [audit] league already had some well-known players, but when they hired Ronaldo, it was a huge euphoria,” said Galgao, who wore a Portuguese team sweater.

The Filipino continued: “I think Coach [Jorge Jesus] was wrong not to respect Ronaldo’s status, but I hope he can still come back. After all, he deserves a dignified farewell, like that of Messi”.

Messi, 39 years old, resigned on Tuesday in celebration of the Argentine football team, with a goal and two assists, in a triumph for 3-0 over Benin, before 85,000 supporters, in the capital Buenos Aires.