Cristiano Ronaldo tried to lay the blame for his red card at the feet of Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrímsson after Portugal’s World Cup defeat in Dublin.
Troy Parrott scored twice for the Boys in Green as they sealed a priceless victory at the Aviva Stadium to keep their hopes of World Cup qualification alive heading into their final game against Hungary at the weekend.
While Parrott did the damage in the first-half, Portugal’s hopes of a fightback were dented after Ronaldo was dismissed after 62 minutes.
The Al-Nassr star threw an elbow at Dara O’Shea following a tussle between the pair. Ronaldo was initially booked, seen mocking O’Shea with a crying gesture before referee Glenn Nyberg was instructed by VAR to review the decision.
Ronaldo’s yellow was upgraded to a red, ruling him out of Portugal’s final qualifying game against Armenia on Sunday with their place in next summer’s World Cup still not secure.
‘He complimented me with putting pressure on the referee but listen, it had nothing to do with me, it was his action on the pitch that cost him a red card,’ Hallgrimsson said post-match.
‘It had nothing to do with me unless I got into his head.’
He added: “He said that to me walking way. He told me it was a clever thing to do. He blamed the referee or whomever for this, but it was his silly decision to attack our player.”
