Fans taunt Cristiano Ronaldo with chants of 'Messi, Messi' after the Man United legend gets sent off for appearing to elbow and stamp on an opponent in Al Nassr's Saudi Cup semi-final defeat

Fans taunted Cristiano Ronaldo with Lionel Messi chants on Monday night after the Al-Nassr star was sent off for a furious outburst. 

Ronaldo appeared to elbow and stamp on an opponent on Monday evening before raising his fist towards the referee.

A seething Ronaldo was sent off as Al-Nassr crashed out of the Saudi Super Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 defeat by Al-Hilal.

And Messi devotees took the opportunity to mock the Manchester United legend, something which is a regular occurrence.

As players tangled with each other just before Ronaldo was given his marching orders, the 'Messi, Messi' chant arose from the crowd.

Fire and fury broke loose in the dying embers of the semi-final – in which Al-Nassr were trailing 2-0 – and Ronaldo saw red following a clash with Al-Hilal's Ali Al-Bulaihi.

Al-Bulaihi tried to prevent the Portuguese superstar from grabbing the ball to take a quick throw-in, leading to the pair to square up with the ball still out of play. 

Ronaldo seemingly threw an elbow in the direction of the Al-Hilal defender, sending him crashing to the floor and sparking a melee of pushing and shoving between the players, with the opposition unhappy at the challenge. 

It also looks as if Ronaldo might have stamped on the befallen Al-Buhaili, although the advertising hoardings obstruct the view. 

The incident sparked a brawl between the two Saudi rival teams.

Al-Hilal rock Kalidou Koulibaly rushed in to try and help his team-mate before being pushed, with Al-Nassr's Aymeric Laporte installing himself as peacemaker. 

Ronaldo watched on as the two sets of players pushed and shoved each other but referee Mohammed Al-Hoaish soon brandished a straight red card.

The 39-year-old raised a fist as if he wanted to lash out at the official and then condescendingly patted another on the shoulder.

As he was leaving the pitch, Ronaldo appeared to tell the crowd 'all of you are witnessing this robbery'.

It was an extremely controversial ending to a frustrating night for both club and player as they were eliminated from the competition by the Saudi Pro League leaders.

Earlier in the night, Ronaldo had already clashed with the ref after Al-Nassr had a goal disallowed with the game still goalless.

Otavio thought he had given his side the lead, but it was chalked off after Ronaldo had failed to make contact with the ball and Otavio was deemed to be in an offside position when he put the ball into the net.

The Portuguese icon was shown a yellow card for his protesting over the disallowed goal, setting the wheels in motion for tempers to boil over later in the game.

Salem Aldawsari and Malcom secured the win with two second-half goals to proceed to the final, with Sadio Mane adding a late consolation deep into injury time.

It's not the first time Ronaldo has made headlines for all the wrong reasons in Saudi football this season.

He was suspended for one match by Saudi football chiefs after he appeared to make an obscene gesture during Al-Nassr's win over Al-Shabab in February.