Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest footballers of all time. He has played against thousands of footballers over the years, and for someone who doesn’t play a lot of top-flight football, sharing the field with CR7 is a huge achievement.

However, getting Ronaldo sent off is a feeling very few footballers can relate to. One such player is ex-Portsmouth star, Richard Hughes. He went up against Ronaldo in 2007 for Pompey in a 1-1 draw with United.

Richard Hughes talks about his altercation with Cristiano Ronaldo

Hughes talked about the incident in an interview with Played Up Pompey Three. Notably, recalling the incident, he referred to the moment as a career highlight.

“I’m not someone who scored loads of goals, so I have to remember other landmarks. Should I ever meet people who don’t necessarily remember me playing Premier League football, I can always tell them that one of the game’s greats headbutted me,” Hughes said.

Hughes reveals how he angered Ronaldo

Ronaldo wasn’t having a good game, but he was still a huge threat during set-pieces and corners. Hughes was tasked with marking the Portuguese forward, and that’s when it all went down.

Hughes was supposed to mark Ronaldo’s run, and he deliberately moved towards Ronaldo to collide with him while the ball sailed over their heads. While it seemed accidental at first, Hughes revealed that it wasn’t.

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Hughes also added how he was blocking Ronaldo’s path to get a good jump for the ball. He wasn’t going to get into an altercation with Ronaldo, and hence he was walking away. However, Ronaldo tried to confront him and accidentally head-butted him and got sent off.

“He knew what I was up to – I was blocking his ability to get a run on the cross. Now I wasn’t interested in a head-to-head altercation, so he had to come in a little closer – and, when he did, he popped against the side of my head. He didn’t mean to headbutt me, but went in aggressively and ended up doing just that,” Hughes revealed.

Do you think Ronaldo’s move was deliberate?

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