Cristiano Ronaldo’s stormed off the pitch and hurled his captain’s arm band to the ground after being denied a last-second winning goal against Serbia in the World Cup 2022 qualifiers on Saturday.
The Juventus star’s rage was apparent as the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
Ronaldo couldn’t believe the match officials’ consensus that his strike, which he thought was successful and could have saved the game for Portugal, did not cross the goal-line.
The visitors were up 2-0 at half-time thanks to two headers from Diogo Jota but Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic and Filip Kostic scored one goal each to equalise the score one hour into the match.
“Being captain of the Portugal National Team is one of the greatest prides and privileges of my life,” wrote Ronaldo on Instagram after, posting an image of his team huddled together.
“I give and will always give my all for my country, that will never change. But there are difficult moments to cope, especially when we feel like an entire nation is being harmed. Head up and face the next challenge! Come on Portugal!”
Czech Republic 1-1 Belgium
Another frustrating result came for Belgium, ranked No 1 by Fifa, ahead of France, Brazil, England, Portugal and Spain. Czech Republic managed to draw 1-1 against the visitors, with an early opener from Lukas Provod. But Belgium’s top goalscorer Romelu Lukaku — assisted by Kevin De Bruyne — managed to equalise the score.
Norway 0-3 Turkey
Despite high hopes for Norway for the World Cup 2022 — with promising young players such as Erling Haaland and captain Martin Odegaard — host team Turkey displayed their top form and dominated with a 3-0 win against the visitors on Saturday. An opening and closing goal from Ozan Tufan either side of the whistle bookended Caglar Soyuncu’s sensational header from a corner kick.
Croatia 1-0 Cyprus
Croatia’s Luka Modric had a record-breaking match against Cyprus, where his team won 1-0. For Modric it was a particularly memorable day as he surpassed Darijo Srna’s national record with his 135th appearance as captain.
Here are the scores from Saturday’s World Cup qualifiers:
Uefa:
Montenegro 4-1 Gibraltar
Russia 2-1 Slovenia
Belarus 4-2 Estonia
Netherlands 2-0 Latvia
Norway 0-3 Turkey
Croatia 1-0 Cyprus
Republic of Ireland 0-1 Luxembourg
Serbia 2-2 Portugal
Slovakia 2-2 Malta
Czech Republic 1-1 Belgium
Concacaf
Turks and Caicos Islands 0-7 Nicaragua
Anguilla 0-6 Dominican Republic
British Virgin Islands 0-3 Guatemala
Bahamas 0-4 St. Kitts and Nevis
US Virgin Islands 0-3 Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba 0-6 Suriname
