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Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo was the picture of frustration after Portugal suffered a dramatic World Cup qualifying defeat to Serbia – and Portugal manager Fernando Santos bore the brunt of Ronaldo’s feelings.
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Portugal only needed a draw to secure automatic qualification but will now have to qualify for the next year’s World Cup in Qatar via the play-offs after a stoppage-time header from Aleksandar Mitrovic secured a dramatic 2-1 win for Serbia in Lisbon.
Ronaldo was seen looking absolutely distraught after the final whistle before briefly embracing Serbia substitute Nemanja Radonjic.
Then, after catching sight of Santos, the 36-year-old began shouting and gesticulating furiously with his arms. Rather than confront his captain on the pitch, Santos gave him the briefest of handshakes before leaving Ronaldo to simmer.
His frustration was not helped by his own failure to impact the game against Serbia, hitting two shots off target and seeing his other effort blocked.
And now, if Ronaldo wishes to add to his seven World Cup goals across five tournaments, Portugal must negotiate two play-off matches next March.
If they fail to do so, it’d be the first World Cup without Portugal since 1998.