What a disaster for Portugal. 2016 European champions were defeated in the Round 16 of this year’s EURO and after leading throughout the qualifications for World Cup 2022 in Qatar, they lost the most important match – in the last round, at home against Serbia. What’s even worse, they were leading after only 4 minutes, but then they totally disappeared from the field and allowed two goals, including a stoppage time winner from a Fulham and ex Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic. They are now facing playoffs in March in order to secure a ticket to Qatar. The Portuguese public is furious, and so was Cristiano Ronaldo. Serbian Sensation! Mitrogol scores 90th-minute winner to spoil Ronaldo’s chances of making QatarThis was an excellent opportunity for the Portugal captain to score another goal in the national team in front of the home crowd and secure a place at the World Cup. Instead, he didn’t have a good performance, and was criticized by home fans on the social networks afterwards. At the end of the match, Cristiano Ronaldo did not hide his disappointment. The captain of the National Team sat on the pitch, hands on his knees, and seemed to let some tears fall. At the end of the game, Ronaldo did not hide his anger when coach Fernando Santos greeted him. The captain of the national team spoke and gestured to the coach, who quickly turned his back. IMAGENS EXCLUSIVAS DA TNT SPORTS! O CLIMA ESQUENTOU! 👀😳 Cristiano falou poucas e boas pro técnico Fernando Santos depois do apito final contra a Sérvia… #EliminatóriasNaTNTSports pic.twitter.com/kZr1M48gFM— TNT Sports Brasil (@TNTSportsBR) November 14, 2021 Portugal manager Fernando Santos is under huge pressure now, and may face a sack before the playoff game in March. He had a lot of explanation to do, as most football journalists are calling for his ’head’.„It’s my responsibility, the message wasn’t for us to play like this or to draw, because if that were the case we wouldn’t have played in 4-3-3. Maybe the message didn’t get through, I don’t know… At half-time I explained what was happening, the game then became more balanced and we created two or three scoring opportunities, one of them flagrant, by Renato Sanches, but they also had. This team has morale and we are going to be in Qatar” said Santos. 🇵🇹 Cristiano Ronaldo is going through the pain! Man Utd are playing shocking and now Serbia have scored a last-minute winner to qualify for the World Cup. He’s broken. #MUFC #PORSRBpic.twitter.com/7xU7JRSlYR— Ty Sports🎙 (@TyroneMc__) November 14, 2021 One of the players who should have contributed more is the in-form midfielder Bernardo Silva. Manchester City player was subbed in the second half and apologized to the nation for the shocking defeat. „It was a bad game for Portugal. We managed to score the goal early but from then on we stopped playing. I cannot find a great explanation for this, words fail me. It was terrible, we have to do much better because we have a play-off in March and we will do our best to qualify. But at home, with 65,000 fans, we had to do much better. I apologize to the Portuguese who watched a game they shouldn’t have watched. The plan was to try to have the ball, we were completely dominated by Serbia. With the quality of our players this is hardly admissible“, said the Manchester City midfielder.
