Cristiano Ronaldo, a Portuguese player, has spoken out about the abusive gesture he made during a match in the Saudi Pro League last month for the first time.

Ronaldo said that his gesture had been a “misunderstanding” and a “mistake”, according to Wion.

During Al-Nassr’s 3-2 victory, Ronaldo made an abusive gesture at Al-Shabab supporters who were chanting Lionel Messi’s name to agitate him.

“I take this opportunity to talk about the case in which I was punished for a game. What I did was a misunderstanding. I will always respect the cultures of all countries, but what people see is not always reality,” said Ronaldo in a news conference.

He kept affirming that he did not make the gesture on purpose, and that it just happened from his end.

“Whenever I make them [mistakes], I don’t do it on purpose. Every day I try to be a better man,” he said.

Moreover, he did not specify any promises regarding any improvement in his behaviour to set a good example in the future.

“I can’t promise because I’m a human being. Nobody is perfect. Life is made of mistakes. What I can promise is that I am a player who gives everything on the field, a player with passion, a player who always wants to win,” he added.

In addition to imposing a one-match ban following Ronaldo’s gesture, a disciplinary committee also fined him a whopping 10,000 Saudi riyals ($2,666), which he was to pay to the Saudi Football Federation and 20,000 riyals to Al-Shabab to cover the cost of registering the complaint. 

Furthermore, the committee disclosed that there is no appeal process available for this decision.