Portuguese media were critical of Cristiano Ronaldo as they pored over their nation’s defeat to Ireland in their World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
Ronaldo was sent off for violent conduct in the second half, for elbowing Irish defender Dara O’Shea and left Portugal battling from two goals behind with 10 men.
Marco Vaza of Público called Ronaldo his flop of the match, writing that Ronaldo had said “O’Shea was a crybaby, saw the red card, and still went to say something to the Irish coach”. He also criticised Ronaldo’s mental composure.
“Portugal had Al-Nassr’s attacking front on the field, with Ronaldo and Felix, and the ball always went to them. There wasn’t a single good decision they made,” he wrote. “Occasionally, Joao Neves or Vitinha would do something. But it was very little. It was all very bad.”
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Ronaldo was called uninspiring in A Bola, as his 2/10 rating was made worse by his replacement at centre forward Goncalo Ramos getting a 6/10, who “did more in 12 or 13 minutes than Ronaldo, Felix and Bernardo combined”.
The Spanish newspaper AS went further and called Ronaldo’s performance “disgraceful” and considered Troy Parrott to be “much cooler” and “more mature” than the Portuguese captain. Parrott was unsurprisingly named man of the match in several outlets.
The decision of the referee Glenn Nyberg, via VAR, was generally accepted in the Portuguese media despite Portugal manager Roberto Martínez saying it was harsh.
Vaza in Público wrote that there was a collective sloppiness to Portugal, who had treated their qualification as a formality, and pointed the blame at Martínez.
“Everyone knew how Ireland would play. Martínez knew this, Ronaldo knew this, Joao Félix knew this, the kit men knew that. But Portugal did not learn from their previous encounter.
“Without speed, without collective awareness, without individual flair, the national team simply existed on the field.”
Martínez came in for pointed criticism from Mariana Fernandes at Observador, who highlighted that Portugal have now lost five of their last 20 games, and failed to score in eight of them. She wrote that Portugal’s campaign was below expectations.
She emphasised Martínez’s comments rubbishing criticisms from the first game against Ireland, and wrote “the national team had an inexcusable day – especially for those who always have excuses for everything.” Martínez had to field a question in the press conference asking if he was in a position to continue leading the national team.
A Bola agreed with Martínez that everything that could go wrong, went wrong, with a clever headline: “Portugal wrote its own Murphy’s Law in red”.
Afonso Santos of A Bola described Ireland’s attack as “racehorses”. Ogbene, Azaz and Parrott were “three sprinters always ready to attack at the slightest slip-up”. He described Parrott’s first goal as a “deafening explosion of joy” as the Portuguese players were “incredulous”. Ireland sitting back was mentioned but not as emphasised in the previous match and their speed in attack was praised. “The three were a constant threat, and Portugal never managed to counter these transitions.”
The fallout continued after the game as Manuel Casaca of O Jogo reported that Bernardo Silva and Rúben Dias were involved in “verbal flashes” with the sizeable section of Portuguese fans behind the goal. Silva “made several gestures, with Felix constantly pulling him on to the pitch, but without success in the face of his team-mate’s fury”.
