Ronaldo fined 20,000 euros for mimicking Simeone celebration

LAUSANNE: Cristiano Ronaldo was fined 20,000 euros ($22,738) by UEFA on Thursday for mimicking Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone's crotch-grabbing celebration in Juventus' Champions League last-16 win last week.

The 34-year-old scored a second-leg hat-trick as the Italian champions overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit to progress to the quarter-finals.

He replicated Simeone's gesture after the first game by grasping his genitals and thrusting out his groin following his tie-winning penalty.

Argentinian Simeone was also fined 20,000 euros by UEFA for his celebration, with European football's governing body following suit in Ronaldo's case.

"He will have seen how I did it at the Wanda Metropolitano and, like me, was trying to show his character," Simeone said after the match.

Ronaldo, who returns to Portugal international duty after a nine-month absence later on Thursday, has scored 24 goals for Juventus since signing from Real Madrid for 100 million euros last year.