More than 2,000 South Korean soccer fans will sue a sports agency after superstar Cristiano Ronaldo stayed on the bench when his Juventus side played a friendly in Seoul last week, a law firm said today.

The star Portuguese striker did not play a single second of the match against a K-league all-star team, ignoring appeals from the sell-out 65,000 crowd at the World Cup Stadium to lace up his boots.

With frustration mounting some even chanted the name of his great Argentine rival Lionel Messi. When the game was first announced, organisers said the contract with Juventus obliged Ronaldo to play for at least 45 minutes, prompting many fans to splash out, according to Seoul law firm Myungan.

Tickets priced from 30,000 won to 400,000 won sold out in just two and a half hours when they were released on July 3.“So far, more than 2,000 fans have contacted us to pursue the suit,” Myungan attorney Kim Hun-ki said. “We plan to officially file the suit on their behalf sometime next week, if the agency does not offer a concrete plan to compensate the ticket holders before then.”