Cristiano Ronaldo and his Al Nassr teammates checked into a hotel in Tehran on Monday. Hundreds of fans flocked there to see the Portuguese hero before the first Asian Champions League group stage match between a Saudi team and Iran since 2016.

Fans swarmed the Espians Palace Hotel and filled the lobby and hallways while chanting “Ronaldo, Ronaldo.” They beat the cops and took over. Kids wore Al-Nassr and Portugal shirts with Ronaldo’s face on them.

At some point tonight in Tehran, Al Nassr will play Persepolis. The second fight will happen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 27.

Peaceful political ties and the approval of the AFC have only recently made it possible for games to happen between the two countries.

In 2015, the last time Saudi and Iranian teams played each other in the Asian Champions League was in the group stage or the knockout round. It used to be that games were played on neutral ground, but recently things have gotten better enough to let this change.

A newspaper called Al-Nassr put out several pictures of Ronaldo receiving an expensive Iranian carpet from football fans of the Persepolis team.

“Hello, Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo! Welcome to Iran.” The people who love Persepolis wrote to thank you and included a one-of-a-kind piece of hand-woven art made by Iranian artists to remind you of your trip to Iran.