Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo says the whole nation has been “harmed” after being controversially denied an added-time winner in their World Cup qualifying 2-2 draw against Serbia.
Cristiano Ronaldo ripped off his captain’s armband and tossed it onto the field as he stomped off in disgust after Portugal’s 2-2 draw at Serbia in World Cup qualifying on Saturday.
The Juventus forward thought he had scored although his angled shot was cleared by defender Stefan Mitrovic, television replays appeared to show the ball crossing the line.
For 10-man Serbia, it was the perfect ending to an inspired fightback from a two-goal deficit. However, with no goal-line technology or VAR available in Belgrade his effort was disallowed.
Liverpool forward Diogo Jota’s double had put the visitors in control at the break, but second-half goals from Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic and Filip Kostic saw Serbia, who had Nikola Milenkovic sent off in stoppage time hit back.
Following the incident, Portugal head coach Fernando Santos said it was ‘unacceptable’ that VAR and goal-line technology is not used in every World Cup qualifying game.
The result left both sides on four points from two games as Serbia edged Republic of Ireland 3-2 at home in their opening game on Wednesday while Portugal eked out a 1-0 win over Azerbaijan.
