The hit to the knee that Cristiano took was harder than that. Had he fallen at the moment of contact instead of a second later it would have been called a foul.

That’s a big problem with reffing. They seem to call certain fouls only when a player falls. For example, Cristiano’s path was impeded by the contact which should be a foul. But because he didn’t fall in that moment it wasn’t called. But a shirt pull is always a foul.

I think this encourages players to embellish fouls. For example, Cristiano was fouled per the rule book because the contact impeded his momentum, he knows refs usually won’t call that a foul without falling, so he is encouraged to sell it. He didn’t fake a foul. The foul existed. He merely attempted to sell it.