Cristiano Ronaldo is not above the law of soccer. Neither is his club, Real Madrid. Any player who shoves a referee deserves whatever ban he is given — in this case, five matches.

The game has a serious problem with players, coaches and fans heaping verbal abuse on officials, especially the referee. And sometimes the words are exceeded by contact — such as Ronaldo’s shove to the back of referee Ricardo de Burgos.

De Burgos had just shown the Real Madrid star a second warning, for diving, and two yellows in one match means red — and expulsion from the match.

Ronaldo did not handle it well, and as the referee walked away the player reached out and shoved him in the back, which can be seen here.

The sport cannot allow a referee to be handled like that.

But that doesn’t keep Madrid from whining about the punishment, which Ronaldo could easily have avoided.

Ronaldo was a late substitute in a Super Cup first-leg match at Barcelona.

He celebrated his first goal by taking off his shirt and posing, which was pure vanity by the reliably vain Ronaldo — and perhaps a photo opportunity in what appeared to be a new Madrid shirt color.

All players know that taking off a shirt is a yellow and Ronaldo was duly shown one.

That left him with a yellow on his record when he carried the ball into the box a few minutes later, and made a meal out of minor contact with a Barcelona defender. The referee decided it was a dive, which is a second warning and red.

And that is a three-game suspension that Ronaldo turned into a five-game ban by pushing the referee in a match that ended 3-1 to Madrid.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he and the club are “annoyed” with Ronaldo’s punishment, and the player is still training with the club.

Why Madrid should be unhappy is not clear. The first yellow was exactly as it was supposed to be.

Perhaps they are unhappy with the “dive” call, but Ronaldo seemed to lean in to the defender before theatrically stumbling and falling. Perhaps he thought the referee would not dare to send him off, that the worst-case scenario was a no-call.

He was wrong.

Certainly, Madrid cannot be unhappy for the extra two suspended games because players simply cannot shove a referee — even if it wasn’t the strongest push in the history of soccer.

Referees need to be defended at all times because 1) they have extremely difficult jobs and 2) they are often the only buffer between order and chaos and 3) it can be just plain dangerous out there for referees, as this lengthy story on the CNN website, a few years ago, demonstrated.

At the time of CNN’s story, a referee and two linesmen recently had been attacked and died from the injuries inflicted on them by fans. The story also notes the verbal abuse and threats referees routinely are subjected to.

Anyone who watched soccer on TV knows that even at the highest levels of the game players routinely swarm and bump and nudge the referee, when they do not like a call, physical abuse that is rarely penalized. It sets an awful example for fans.

The dangers are real. Soccer officials must be backed by authorities at all times, even if they have erred.

Soccer at all levels needs to make it clear that threatening behavior toward officials is not allowed, nor is a player pushing a referee. Not even when it is Cristiano Ronaldo doing the pushing.