NEW $180m Juventus signing Cristiano Ronaldo picked up the first red card of his 154 match Champions League career after a clash with Valencia’s Jeison Murillo.
The Portuguese was dismissed for allegedly pulling Murillo’s hair when he appeared to be trying to drag the Valencia man to his feet after they had clashed on the edge of the box, The Sun reported.
German referee Felix Byrch took the word of his goal line assistant and brandished the red, which left a disbelieving Ronaldo in a flood of tears in the tunnel.
UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings over Ronaldo’s red card — but he will not find the result till next week.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has been plotting a “dream” return to Old Trafford to face former club Manchester United in the Champions League group stage.
And his shock dismissal could see VAR brought into the Champions League this season.
Under UEFA rules, any red card brings an automatic one-game ban unless there is proof of mistaken identity.
UEFA’S control and disciplinary committee then adjudges every red card incident to determine the full penalty.
Juventus are confident that the video evidence confirms the red card decision was flawed and that Ronaldo will only serve the mandatory minimum ban.
The Serie A champions will gather a video file and statements from Ronaldo and other Juve players in support of their case and believe they will be able to persuade UEFA to effectively rule the Portuguese was wrongly treated.
That would clear him to play in the third group game when Juve visit Manchester United on October 23, only the second time he has played at Old Trafford since he left for Real Madrid in 2009.
The next meeting of the committee will be at UEFA’S Nyon headquarters, probably on Thursday.
But the case has brought increased internal pressure for UEFA to introduce VAR from the start of the knockout stage of this season’s competition.
Juve President Andrea Agnelli, a member of Uefa’s executive committee, waited to confront Brych in the tunnel at the end of the match.
Agnelli had demanded the introduction of VAR after the controversial last-gasp penalty call against Juve by Michael Oliver saw them eliminated by Real Madrid in last season’s epic quarter-final.
The Juve boss is understood to be now planning to step up his demands and put pressure on UEFA to bring the system in for the latter stages of this season’s competition.
Coach Max Allegri, who had previously been public in his opposition to the use of technology, complained: “I can only say that VAR would have helped the referee in this decision.
“It is disappointing because we will lose an important player for at least a match.”
Old Lady teammate Emre Can was furious with referee Brych for showing Ronaldo the red card.
The former Liverpool midfielder said: “That’s supposed to be a red?
“I just heard that he said it was because of hair pulling. We’re not women, we’re playing football.
“If you’re giving that as a red card, you can be sent off for any foul.
“One hundred per cent, that is not a red card.”
This article originally appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
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