"We talked. It's difficult for a player like Cristiano... he had constant contact, with the defenders grabbing him. There's no violence - he tries to push them away. He was unlucky. The angle of the images makes it worse than what actually happened. It's his first red card for the national team. It's incredible."
"What I told him was 'we're preparing for the next game, you've won many with the national team,' What happened is what happens in football. The reaction was good: we fought, we showed courage. Now it's time to prepare for the next one."
"It happens in football. It's a game to forget. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong."
Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off in the 61st minute of the Ireland vs Portugal World Cup qualifier after a VAR review found him elbowing Ireland defender Dara O'Shea. Portugal trailed 2-0 at the time, with Troy Parrott scoring twice for Ireland in the first half. Manager Roberto Martinez described the dismissal as undeserved, saying Ronaldo faced constant contact and was trying to push defenders away, and that camera angles made the incident look worse. The red card was Ronaldo's first for Portugal in his 226th appearance. Portugal can still secure qualification with a win over Armenia.
Read at 101GREATGOALS.COM
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]