Marca newspaper sparked a huge controversy when it published a report that the reason for Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence from the match between Al-Nassr and Esteghlal in Tehran was his club’s fear of being flogged.
According to the Spanish newspaper, Ronaldo is threatened with 99 lashes on charges of adultery, after hugging the Iranian artist with special needs, Fatemeh Hamami.
An official at the Iranian embassy in the British capital, London, responded to these rumors via the Talk Sports website and denied them completely.
The English network quoted the official as saying that Iranian officials were very happy and appreciative of Ronaldo’s humanitarian gesture towards Hamami, and no decision was issued to punish him or anything like that.
The official added, “We strongly deny the issuance of any judicial ruling against any international athlete in Iran.”
Hamami had drawn a picture of Ronaldo with her feet, so the Portuguese star met her and thanked her for the drawing, and spontaneously hugged her.
Hamami expressed her happiness with this interview and stressed that she did not file any complaint against Ronaldo because of his hug.
The famous artist said, “Ronaldo does not know the laws of Iran, but his hug was an expression of his love for me, and he had no bad intentions.”
She continued, “Some unemployed lawyers filed accusations against Ronaldo, without my permission or my family’s permission.”
It is noteworthy that Al-Nassr tied with Esteghlal at Azadi Stadium, in the absence of Ronaldo, in the first leg of the round of 16 of the 2025 AFC Champions League Elite.
