Cristiano Ronaldo’s red card during Portugal’s unexpected loss to Ireland complicates their 2026 World Cup qualification hopes, despite coach Roberto Martinez defending the star’s actions and Bruno Fernandes admitting his mistake.
Star striker Cristiano Ronaldo has been officially ‘released from the national team’ following his straight red card during Portugal’s loss to Ireland, with his coach defending him while teammate Bruno Fernandes conceded the star “made a mistake.”
According to a report from Portuguese publication A Bola, star striker Cristiano Ronaldo has been officially ‘released from the national team’ and will not remain with the squad for Portugal’s crucial fixture against Armenia in Porto on Sunday afternoon.
This development follows a frustrating evening for the Portugal captain during his side’s defeat to Ireland, where he was dismissed, picking up his first straight red card while playing for the national side.
Ireland claimed a huge win in the World Cup qualifier, with Troy Parrott bagging a first half brace for the Boys In Green.
Before the game, Ronaldo had promised to be a ‘good boy’ upon his return to Ireland, stating: “I really like the fans here. The support they give to their national team is lovely.
For me, it’s a pleasure to play here again, I hope they don’t boo me too much tomorrow – I swear that I’m going to try to be a good boy.”
Ronaldo’s red card was met with his disbelief, and he was seen to sarcastically applaud the home crowd before being held back by Ricardo Carvalho after mouthing ‘well done’ in the direction of the Irish dugout.
Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez came to the defence of Ronaldo after the defeat and argued that the captain’s outburst was not ‘violent’.
Martinez said: “Of course, we spoke I think it’s difficult for a player like Cristiano, who’s in the box. And today he had two defenders constantly in physical contact. There’s no violence.
He tries to push the defender away and he was unlucky that the VAR… the angle of the images [makes it look] worse than what happened. It’s Ronaldo’s first red card for the national team, it’s incredible.”
Fellow team-mate Bruno Fernandes admitted the dismissal made things more difficult. Fernandes commented:
“That happens in football, a moment where Cris had a reaction that cost him dearly. Something he didn’t want to do, but it ended up happening.
He knows he made a mistake and unfortunately couldn’t help us, but it doesn’t change the fact that we were already behind in the game.
It made things a little more difficult, because we were playing with 10 men and didn’t have a player who could score a goal at any moment.”