Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo stormed off the pitch and threw his armband to the floor after being denied an added-time winner in their World Cup qualifying 2-2 draw against Serbia.
The Juventus forward thought he had scored at the death as although his angled shot was cleared by defender Stefan Mitrovic, television replays appeared to show the ball crossing the line.
However, with no goal-line technology or VAR available in Belgrade his effort was not allowed.
Cristiano Ronaldo is FUMING! 😡— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 28, 2021
A furious Ronaldo was booked for protesting before marching off down the tunnel at the final whistle and hurling away his captain’s armband in disgust.
“I always give and will give everything for my country, that will never change. But there are difficult times to deal with, especially when we feel that an entire nation is being harmed,” Ronaldo later posted on Instagram.
“We will keep our heads up and face the next challenge now.”
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.
Holland got their World Cup qualifying campaign back on track with a 2-0 home win over Latvia in front of 5,000 spectators in the Amsterdam ArenA.
Steven Berghuis and Luuk de Jong scored in each half as the Dutch responded to a surprise 4-2 loss to Turkey in Istanbul on Wednesday at the start of their Group G campaign.
The match was played in front of 5,000 fans as part of a government-supported study into the amount of contact in crowd situations.
Turkey maintained their 100 per cent record with a comfortable 3-0 win over Norway, who had substitute Kristian Thorstvedt sent off late on.
Playing their home game in Malaga due to coronavirus restrictions in Oslo, the Norwegians protested about the Qatar World Cup for the second time in four days by wearing t-shirts that called for human rights to be respected. The players also held up their left hands, mirroring the international logo for human rights.
Ozan Tufan scored two superb goals for Turkey, either side of Leicester defender Caglar Soyuncu’s header.
Belgium were held to a 1-1 draw in the Czech Republic. Lukas Provod put the hosts ahead early in the second half before Romelu Lukaku levelled things up after an hour.
Luka Modric became Croatia’s most-capped player as he captained his side to a 1-0 win against Cyprus, the Real Madrid midfielder passing former defender Darijo Srna with his 135th appearance.
Mario Pasalic’s first-half header gave Croatia their first win in Group H, following their opening 1-0 defeat at Slovenia.
🇭🇷 Luka Modrić = Croatia's most-capped player in history (135 appearances) 👏— European Qualifiers (@EURO2020) March 27, 2021
Russia top the group with six points after they beat Slovenia 2-1. Artem Dzyuba scored twice for the hosts before Josip Ilicic pulled a goal back.
The Republic of Ireland suffered an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Luxembourg as Gerson Rodrigues’ 85th-minute strike condemned the Irish to a second defeat of the week.
Vitali Lisakovich scored twice as Belarus beat 10-man Estonia 4-2, while Stevan Jovetic was on target in Montenegro’s 4-1 victory against Gibraltar. Slovakia came from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw at home against Malta.
