{"id":290384,"date":"2023-09-18T15:35:39","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T15:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=290384"},"modified":"2023-09-18T15:35:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T15:35:39","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-receives-a-crazy-welcome-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/cristiano-ronaldo-receives-a-crazy-welcome-in-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo receives a crazy welcome in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Cristiano Ronaldo receives a crazy welcome in Iran as hundreds of fans chase the Al-Nassr team bus and storm their hotel ahead of Asian Champions League game with Persepolis&#8230; but the star looks thrilled with his welcome gift!<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Al-Nassr arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran ahead of Persepolis game<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Hundreds of excited fans clamoured for a glimpse of star Cristiano Ronaldo<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cristiano Ronaldo has been greeted by extraordinary scenes in Iran with hundreds of fans chasing the Al-Nassr bus and then storming the team&#8217;s hotel to catch a glimpse of him.<\/p>\n<p>The Saudi Arabian club are set to play Tehran-based side Persepolis in their opening AFC Champions League group stage fixture on Tuesday night and they&#8217;ve had quite the welcome.<\/p>\n<p>Videos released on Al-Nassr&#8217;s X feed showed fans running down the road in pursuit of their yellow team coach as excitement ahead of the fixture reaches fever pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Fans young and old were spotted holding up Ronaldo posters and wearing Ronaldo shirts as the Portuguese superstar prepares to play in the Iranian capital.<\/p>\n<p>In other social media videos, hundreds of local fans could be seen rushing inside the lobby of the hotel where Al-Nassr are staying while chanting &#8216;Ronaldo, Ronaldo&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/14\/75556109-12531509-image-a-96_1695045291938.jpg\" height=\"596\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of excited fans chased the Al-Nassr team bus as they tried to catch a glimpse of star Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the Saudi club&#8217;s Asian Champions League game with Persepolis<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/14\/75556107-12531509-image-a-99_1695045383548.jpg\" height=\"592\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Videos posted on social media by Al-Nassr showed the extraordinary welcome in Tehran<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/14\/75555613-12531509-image-a-103_1695045454360.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sporting sunglasses and clasping some roses, Ronaldo makes his arrival at Tehran Airport<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/14\/75555617-12531509-image-a-104_1695045534511.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Portuguese star looked delighted to receive a Persian rug from Persepolis as a present<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo was seen smiling as he was escorted up to his room at the Espinas Palace Tehran by security guards followed by the remainder of the Al-Nassr squad and their staff.<\/p>\n<p>An entire floor has been set aside for the Al-Nassr party with a suite reserved for Ronaldo.<\/p>\n<p>In a slightly less chaotic moment, Ronaldo was presented with a traditional Persian rug shortly after touching down at Tehran&#8217;s Imam Khomeini Airport and looked thrilled with the gift.<\/p>\n<p>Another present to the Al-Nassr party will come in the form of special SIM cards which will allow them to access the internet without restrictions during their stay.<\/p>\n<p>This is something Iranian citizens cannot do with thousands of websites and all global messaging services and social media blocked.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday&#8217;s match at the 78,000-capacity Aazdi Stadium does come with some regrets for the locals, however, because it will be played behind closed doors.<\/p>\n<p>This relates to a one-match stadium ban handed down to Persepolis for a social media post ahead of their match with Indian club FC Goa during the 2021-22 season.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/15\/75556095-12531509-image-a-107_1695045701564.jpg\" height=\"491\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of fans stormed the lobby of the hotel where Cristiano Ronaldo is staying<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/15\/75556097-12531509-image-a-110_1695045743059.jpg\" height=\"480\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fans chanted &#8216;Ronaldo, Ronaldo&#8217; as they strained to catch a glimpse of their hero<\/p>\n<p>The now deleted post cited Iran&#8217;s invasion of India (in 1738-1740) and historic battles between the two countries to spur their team on ahead of the group stage meetings with Goa.<\/p>\n<p>The message offended people in India and their football association formally lodged a complaint with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which handed Persepolis the ban.<\/p>\n<p>They didn&#8217;t play in continental competitions last season, so the ban will now be served &#8211; as their bad luck would have it &#8211; for the visit of Al-Nassr and Ronaldo.<\/p>\n<p>In recent days, Persepolis fans have been commenting with apologies on FC Goa Instagram posts in a bid to get the ban overturned at the last minute.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/15\/75555615-12531509-image-a-111_1695045787590.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo talks to Persepolis officials as he is presented with a traditional carpet as a present<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/15\/75557825-12531509-image-a-112_1695045903921.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo takes a look at his welcome present after touching down in Tehran on Monday<\/p>\n<p>But as it stands, the match will be played with no spectators in attendance, which may explain the crazy scenes when Al-Nassr arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Al-Nassr are the first Saudi club to visit Iran in seven years. Tensions have often been high between the two countries but a deal brokered by China in March restored ties.<\/p>\n<p>It comes as five American prisoners sought by the United States flew out of Tehran on Monday as part of a deal that saw nearly $6billion [\u00a34.85bn] in Iranian assets unfrozen.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the deal, tensions between the two countries remain high amid various disputes, including over Tehran&#8217;s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12531509\/Cristiano-Ronaldo-receives-crazy-welcome-Iran-hundreds-fans-chase-Al-Nassr-team-bus-storm-hotel-ahead-Asian-Champions-League-game-Persepolis-star-looks-thrilled-welcome-gift.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cristiano Ronaldo receives a crazy welcome in Iran as hundreds of fans chase the Al-Nassr team bus and storm their hotel ahead of Asian Champions League game with Persepolis&#8230; but the star looks thrilled with his welcome gift! Al-Nassr arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran ahead of Persepolis game Hundreds of excited fans clamoured for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cristiano Ronaldo receives a crazy welcome in Iran - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/cristiano-ronaldo-receives-a-crazy-welcome-in-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cristiano Ronaldo receives a crazy welcome in Iran - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cristiano Ronaldo receives a crazy welcome in Iran as hundreds of fans chase the Al-Nassr team bus and storm their hotel ahead of Asian Champions League game with Persepolis&#8230; but the star looks thrilled with his welcome gift! 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