Did he or did he not? That’s the question that every Cristiano Ronaldo fan is asking over his attempted header in a Group H match against Uruguay on Monday that was followed by a goal. Bruno Fernandes said he thought Cristiano Ronaldo had scored Portugal’s opener in their 2-0 win over Uruguay on Monday even though he was credited with the goal. The Manchester United midfielder’s cross towards Ronaldo flew straight in but the veteran striker was a whisker away from making contact with the ball.
Fernandes added the second from the penalty spot late on after Uruguay were penalised for handball and he was chosen as man of the match. The win guaranteed Portugal’s progress to the last 16 in Qatar.
“I celebrated as if it had been Cristiano’s goal, it seemed to me that he had touched the ball, my aim was to cross the ball for him,” Fernandes said. “What’s important is that we were able to go to the next round and (secure) a very important win against a very tough opponent.”
Now, FIFA has confirmed that Ronaldo did not head the ball in. “In the match between Portugal and Uruguay, using the Connected Ball Technology housed in adidas’s Al Rihla Official Match Ball, we are able to definitively show no contact on the ball from Cristiano Ronaldo for the opening goal in the game,” read a statement provided to ESPN from FIFA on behalf of Adidas.
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“No external force on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack of ‘heartbeat’ in our measurements. The 500Hz IMU sensor inside the ball allows us to be highly accurate in our analysis.”
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