What happened: With mere seconds left in Serbia’s World Cup qualifier at home against Portugal, with the score at 2-2, the visitors launched one last attack and Cristiano Ronaldo ‘scored’ what would have been the winning goal. Yay! Except… the goal wasn’t given and there was no goal-line technology available to overrule the officials’ incorrect call – I mean, even looking at this clip on a laptop, it’s obvious that the ball crossed the line.
I’ve never seen Ronaldo act more aggrieved, understandably so. The speed with which he approached the assistant ref was impressive. He was booked for protesting, and at the final whistle threw his captain’s armband to the ground and stormed down the tunnel in a big huff – unlike Lionel Messi, Ronaldo is not great at hiding his emotions.
“There are moments which are tough to digest especially when we feel the entire nation is being punished,” Ronaldo said later on social media. “We will keep our heads up and move on to the next challenge.”
You do that, Ron. Given that your other World Cup qualifying group opponents are Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and, worst of all, the Republic of Ireland, I think Portugal might just be okay with a draw away against their only real Group A rivals.