It was normal service resumed for Real Madrid in their Champions League clash with APOEL Nicosia on Wednesday.Having faltered at home to Levante with their second draw at the Bernabeu this season, the Cypriot minnows were the perfect opponents for Los Blancos to return to form.And with Cristiano Ronaldo returning to the side, the Spaniards were simply unstoppable. The Portuguese slipped into the centre forward position with ease, bagging a brace with Sergio Ramos wrapping up proceedings at 3-0.
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Real have missed Ronaldo already this season with the 31-year-old barred from domestic duties after pushing an official in the Spanish Super Cup.
Redeployed on European duties, though, and the Ballon d'Or came within inches of scoring a hat-trick.
Early in the second half, Ronaldo latched onto a Dani Carvajal cross, meeting the ball left-footed from just four-yards out.
Miraculously, he was unable to covert and struck the cross bar with Boy Waterman sprawling across the goal mouth. The effort ricocheted off the underside of the woodwork and looked for everyone in the stadium to have crossed the line.
The Real players appealed but, naturally, almost everyone surrendered their protestations when hawk-eye revealed that the whole of the ball hadn't crossed the whole of the line.
Ronaldo himself, though, wasn't having any of it. Skip to 5:35 to see the incident below:
Despite the referee waving play-on, the Portuguese continued to protest by rushing to the extra official beside the goal. Even when the assistant reiterated the decision of his senior by pointing to his own watch, Ronaldo continued to wave his arms in bewilderment.
The Real Madrid star might be one of the most talented athletes on the planet but doesn't mean he can take on technology.
Twitter certainly didn't cut him any slack either with fans utterly baffled by Ronaldo's persistence. Here are the pick of the tweets:
It's perhaps surprising, that Ronaldo wasn't actually booked for the episode in lieu of dissent.
His fellow claimant to the title of world's best player - Lionel Messi - was cautioned for that very reason on Tuesday against Juventus. The Argentine's decision to make a yellow card gesture at the referee saw him awarded one of his own.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo got off lucky but perhaps he's due luck with his referee-related shenanigans already this season.
In terms of the result, it was mere trivia, anyway. Real didn't need a Ronaldo treble to make the perfect start in their bid to bag a hat-trick of their own in Champions League title wins.
Do you think Ronaldo should have been booked for dissent? Let us know by leaving a comment below.