Cristiano Ronaldo spectacularly turned the tables on Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone as the Portuguese star pulled out a ‘cojones’ celebration after netting a hat-trick to lead Juventus into the Champions League quarterfinals.
Juve trailed 2-0 from the first leg and faced a mammoth task to avoid crashing out of the competition at the last 16 stage, but Ronaldo stepped up with a colossal performance to see his team past Atletico, scoring a headed double followed by a late penalty as they won the tie 3-2 on aggregate.
It was all the sweeter for the former Real Madrid striker after he had been taunted by Atletico fans after the first leg defeat, during which he had reminded them of the five Champions League titles he has to his name.
That first leg encounter also saw a notable celebration from Atletico manager Simeone, who had grabbed his crotch on the touchline after his team’s first goal that night to signal that Atletico “have balls.”
Also on rt.com 'I did it to show we have cojones': Simeone explains crotch-grabbing UCL celebration (VIDEO)The gesture earned the Argentine a $25,000 fine from UEFA, although he later apologized and was not handed a touchline ban for the second leg.
But that merely meant he was there to see close-hand the destruction wrought by Ronaldo, as he netted a hat-trick – incredibly his fourth treble against Atletico – to send Juve into the last eight.
After the game, the Juve number 7 was seen celebrating with a ‘cojones’ gesture of his own to the crowd.
Atletico might have thought they’d seen the last of him when he left Real for Juve in the summer, but Ronaldo’s still there, cojones and all.