Why did Ronaldo’s presence in Iran become a problem?
Images of a crowd of some Iranian people to welcome Cristiano Ronaldo spread across Iranian social networks. These images were surprising for many news networks inside and outside Iran, and some news agencies covered it moment by moment.
People welcomed Ronaldo to such an extent that not only the roads of the Al-Nasr football team were full of people, but the team members were able to get to their rooms at the Espinas Hotel, where they were staying, with difficulty. The crowd was so large that people entered the lobby by breaking one of the hotel doors. Even in the hustle and bustle of the hotel, Iranian media reported that the goalkeeper of Al-Nasr team was lost for a few minutes. Apparently, he was found after about half an hour “with the efforts of the hotel staff”.
The chaos that happened in welcoming Ronaldo was not only for welcoming him. Some Iranian news agencies, to show the level of acceptance of this football star, put strange headlines such as “Ronaldo’s escape from people with the help of an elevator” in their outlets.
At the same time as these events took place, there were many collective reactions in social networks. Some blamed “people” for finding such images. Some people pointed the finger of blame at the government and blamed only the Islamic Republic for the resulting images
