Cristiano Ronaldo was shown a dramatic red card in Ireland’s World Cup qualifier against Portugal. The 40-year-old was given his marching orders by referee Glenn Nyberg after a VAR review after being shown an initial yellow card. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid icon appeared to catch Dara O’Shea with his elbow as he went for the ball.
Ronaldo looked on the verge of tears on the pitch and received a sarcastic round of applause as he left the game before approaching Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson on the touchline. The two soon shook hands as Ronaldo headed towards the tunnel.
Before kick-off, Hallgrimsson had asked the referee to keep Ronaldo under control so as not to affect the flow of the match, after the Portuguese legend persistently communicated with Slovak official Ivan Krzyliak during the two countries’ clash in Lisbon last month.
During that match, Portugal were awarded a spot kick, but Ronaldo failed to convert it, Caoich Kelleher made a save, and Ruben Neves scored a late goal to seal Portugal’s victory.
“Obviously it’s up to the referee whether he[Ronaldo]takes part in the play or not, but in Portugal he wasn’t just controlling the referee, he was controlling the whole stadium, so all the fans supported what he did and the referee just went along with it,” Hallgrimsson said.
“Now that I’m at the Aviva, I hope it’s the other way around. Obviously the players shouldn’t be refereeing, it should be the referees refereeing.”
“I hope people here look at that and realize that if you want to influence the game, at least you shouldn’t influence the referees.”
Reacting to these remarks before Thursday’s match, Ronaldo said: “I think he tried to put pressure on the referee, because he’s certainly a smart guy and knows where they can push.”
“I’ve been around the game for years and I know how the managers think, how they put pressure on the players and try to take the pressure off them. That’s normal because they know if they lose tomorrow they’re out. So they keep things game-focused and try to do something.”
“But we have to prepare for a tough game. I think it will be very similar to the game they play in Lisbon.”
“And they (Ireland) have a chance. They are a good team, so we are ready. I think Portugal will play a good game and we will win the game.”
