Cristiano Ronaldo has told Rasmus Hojlund he aims to celebrate in front of the Denmark striker in Sunday’s crunch Nations League tie.
Portugal trail 1-0 heading into the quarter-final second leg tie at the Estadio Jose Alvalade following Hojlund‘s winner on Thursday.
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Hojlund performed Ronaldo’s iconic celebration following his winner against PortugalCredit: UEFA via Getty
The Manchester United forward came off the bench to score in the 78th minute – before he rubbed salt in the wounds of Ronaldo.
Hojlund copied the 40-year-old’s iconic ‘Siu’ celebration as the five-time Ballon d’Or winner simply looked on in despair.
The 22-year-old later insisted he meant no disrespected towards the Al Nassr striker, as he simply wanted to copy his sporting idol.
He told Danish outlet DR: “Now I’m not going to exaggerate, but Cristiano is everything to me.
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“I fell in love with football because of Cristiano, I became a Manchester United fan because of Cristiano.
“I started self-training because of Cristiano, I started doing push-ups and sit-ups every day before I went to bed, because of Cristiano, because I wanted to be Cristiano.”
And speaking ahead of Sunday night’s tie at the home of Sporting Lisbon, Ronaldo commented on Hojlund’s antics – insisting he hopes the roles are reversed in their upcoming meeting.
Keen to stress he has no issue with the ex-Atalanta centre-forward, the Portugal skipper said: “It’s no problem for me.
“I know it wasn’t out of disrespect. It is not only him who does my celebration around the world.
“I’m smart enough to understand that. For me it is an honour.
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Ronaldo has insisted he knows Hojlund meant no ‘disrespect’ over his celebrationCredit: Getty
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But the Portugal skipper has told Hojlund he hopes he will have the last laughCredit: Rex
“I hope to do it in front of him tomorrow [on Sunday].
“It will be good. I’m glad he likes my celebration.”
While Ronaldo failed to grab his 136th international goal midweek, he appears to have played a huge part in Portugal only losing 1-0.
That is because just before teammate Diogo Costa saved Christian Eriksen’s penalty, he seemingly provided the goalkeeper with invaluable insight.
Ronaldo played alongside Eriksen at Old Trafford during his second spell at United from 2022-2023, with fans speculating his words to Costa were advice on the midfielder’s spot-taking habits.
But Ronaldo will hope to have his shooting boots on against Denmark on Sunday in his quest to win a second Nations League title this summer.
Unseen footage shows Cristiano Ronaldo giving advice before ex-Man United teammate’s penalty
