Portugal are on the verge of securing their place at the 2026 World Cup – they just need to beat Armenia on Sunday – but the victory has been overshadowed by the earthquake that left them defeated against Ireland (2-0).
Cristiano Ronaldo ended up in the dressing room early after elbowing an opponent. Initially he only saw yellow, but VAR corrected the referee and the Portuguese was sent off. As he left the pitch, the Al Nassr striker responded with gestures towards the crowd, a behaviour that has angered his country.
In Portugal, the episode has not gone unnoticed. The press has been harsh, especially A Bola, which opened one of its editorials with a blunt headline: “Cristiano should be ashamed”. Journalist Hugo Vasconcelos went further in his criticism: for him, “the unfortunate thing was not only the elbow as a result of a fit of rage”, something that can happen in the heat of competition, but “all the subsequent theatre”.
The same text details what was most upsetting: “The staging: the tears insinuating that the Irishman was exaggerating, the gestures of incomprehension, the ironic applause to the public… as if the expulsion was the responsibility of the stands”. An unkind portrait of the Portuguese captain on a night to forget.
Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson also did not let the incident pass. “You could see it all when he walked off the pitch. There was nothing more to comment on. It was a moment of pure stupidity on his part,” he said after the match.
Read the full article here
