The footballing icon recorded an unwanted first in his illustrious career on Thursday night as he was sent off at international level for the very first time in 226 senior caps during his country’s shock qualifying defeat by the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
With out-of-sorts Portugal trailing 2-0 at the Aviva Stadium courtesy of Troy Parrott’s first-half brace, Ronaldo received an initial yellow card from Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg just past the hour mark after his elbow went into the back of Dara O’Shea as the two players jostled for position at a corner.
However, Nyberg was advised by VAR official Pol van Boekel to watch the incident back on the pitchside monitor and he subsequently upgraded the caution to a straight red.
In his own pre-match press conference, Hallgrimsson had urged the officials not to let Ronaldo referee the game after he had made a show of highlighting perceived time-wasting by Ireland’s players during Portugal’s last-gasp 1-0 win in Lisbon last month.
Ronaldo was mocked by many Irish fans, several of whom gleefully repeated the crying gesture that he had aimed at Ipswich defender O’Shea before being sent off, leading to a sarcastic thumbs-up from the Al-Nassr superstar to the crowd.
“He complimented me for putting pressure on the referee,” Hallgrimsson said when asked what Ronaldo had said to him after being dismissed.
“It was his action on the pitch that cost him the red card. It had nothing to do with me – unless I got into his head.
“No [I didn’t speak to him after the final whistle], I think we spoke enough when he came off.
“There was nothing to speak about. This was just a moment of a little silliness from him, I would say.”
Defending his influential captain and Portugal’s all-time leading goalscorer and appearance-maker, head coach Roberto Martinez said: “The red card is just a captain that has never been sent off before in 226 games – I think that just deserves credit – and today, I thought it was a bit harsh because he cares about the team.
“He was 60 minutes or 58 minutes in the box being grabbed, being pulled, being pushed and obviously when he tries to get away from the defender…
“I think the action looks worse than what it actually is, I don’t think it’s an elbow, I think it’s a full body, but from where the camera is, it looks like an elbow. But we accept it.
“The only thing that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth is at the press conference yesterday, your coach was talking about the aspect of the referees being influenced, and then a big centre-half falls on the floor so dramatically at the turn of Cristiano’s body.”
Why Cristiano Ronaldo could face World Cup ban
After his sending off in Dublin, Ronaldo will serve an automatic one-game suspension as Portugal – who now have a two-point lead ahead of nearest challengers Hungary at the summit of Group F with one qualifier left after the latter’s 1-0 win in Yerevan on Thursday – attempt to seal qualification for the 2026 World Cup in North America against bottom side Armenia in Porto on Sunday.
Portugal beat Armenia 5-0 in Yerevan back in September with Ronaldo scoring twice and it would be a huge shock if they did not still go on to qualify automatically despite their unexpected setback against Ireland, whose own hopes are still alive as they prepare to travel to Budapest in their final qualifier this weekend.
If Portugal do indeed secure qualification against Armenia, then Ronaldo could yet miss at least their first group game – and possibly the first two – at the World Cup due to FIFA’s current disciplinary rules that state that their judges must impose a suspension of “at least two matches” for acts of serious foul play.
Per ESPN, such a suspension should be “at least three matches” when it comes to violent conduct or “at least three matches or an appropriate period of time for assault, including elbowing”.
The 40-year-old Ronaldo – who has already stated that next summer’s World Cup finals will be his last – will now anxiously await the ruling of a FIFA disciplinary committee, knowing that if he does face an extended two or three-match ban that it can only be served in competitive fixtures and not friendlies.
In the event that Portugal do not top Group F but finish second and qualify for UEFA’s World Cup play-offs, they would face a one-legged semi-final and then a final if they advance.
In that scenario, a two or three-game ban for Ronaldo would be served ahead of the World Cup, against Armenia and then in the play-offs.
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