Cristiano Ronaldo faces a possible World Cup ban after being shown a straight red card in Portugal’s surprise 2-0 defeat away to the Republic of Ireland on Thursday.
Portuguese football leaders plan to appeal to FIFA to shorten Cristiano Ronaldo’s three-match suspension to avoid being suspended for the World Cup. Ronaldo, 40, was shown a straight red card during Portugal’s shock 2-0 defeat against Ireland in Dublin on Thursday.
The Al Nasr superstar elbowed Ireland’s Dara O’Shea and was sent off after a VAR check. An elbow is usually considered an act of violence and carries a three-game suspension in competitive play.
As a result, Ronaldo will miss Portugal’s final World Cup qualifier against Armenia on Sunday and is expected to be suspended for the first two games of next summer’s tournaments in the United States, Canada and Mexico if they win and qualify directly. However, Portugal, who will be without Ronaldo in the playoffs if they fail to win Group F, are filing a lawsuit.
Portuguese publication A Bola reported that the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) will ask FIFA to reduce Ronaldo’s suspension to just one match based on three factors. Firstly, regarding the hostile environment in Dublin, Portugal acknowledged Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson’s pre-match comments ahead of a must-win game for his country.
Hallgrimsson said Ronaldo “controlled the referee” during Portugal’s 1-0 comeback win last month. The FPF will also point out Ronaldo’s irritated reaction to being grabbed by O’Shea during the red card.
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Finally, they argue that Ronaldo’s disciplinary history at international level, which has seen him avoid sending off in his last 225 caps, needs to be taken into account. FPF President Pedro Proenca is said to be directly involved in this process.
Ronaldo has already left the Portugal national team camp and will not be in Porto when his teammates face Armenia. Portugal coach Roberto Martínez sympathized with him after Thursday’s loss, saying: “I thought it was a little tough on him because he cares about the team.”
“He was being grabbed, pulled and pushed in the box for about 60 minutes, clearly trying to get away from defenders. I think it made it look worse than it actually was.”
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“I don’t think it’s an elbow. I think it’s a whole body, but it looks like an elbow from the camera’s position. But we’ll take it.”
Martínez added: “The only thing that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth is that in the press conference yesterday, the Ireland manager was talking about the aspect of the referee being influenced. And then, in the moment when Cristiano turned, the big centre-half fell to the floor so dramatically.”
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