According to reports, UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings over Cristiano 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.
New £100m Juventus signing 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.
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.
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 Unitedon 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 knock-out stage of this season’s competition.