Cristiano Ronaldo will be the captain of the Portugal national team forever according to the head coach of the national team, Fernando Santos.
The issue of Ronaldo’s captaincy was raised during the pre-match press conference of the Portugal World Cup qualification match against Luxembourg which is scheduled to take place today, March 30, at 19:46.
His captaincy of the national team became an issue after his outburst in the FIFA World Cup qualification match between Portugal and Serbia on March 27.
Recall that in the last minute of the game Cristiano thought he had scored a goal but Serbian defender, Stefan Mitrovic cleared the ball before it could hit the net.
From the angle of the center-referee, Danny Makkelie, the ball didn’t cross the goal line despite how convinced Ronaldo was about the goal. It got so bad that the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner had to be shown a yellow card.
If the goal which crossed the goal line had stood, the qualification match would have ended 3-2 in favor of Portugal. But the match had to end 2-2 since the referee failed to count Ronaldo’s last-minute goal.
Unfortunately for the 36-year-old forward, there was no Video Assistant Referee to review the referee’s decision. FIFA said the two countries didn’t agree to use a goal-line technology before the game.
Hence, before the referee blew the final whistle, Cristiano Ronaldo was so furious that he had to remove his captain armband and threw the captain armband on the pitch before he walked away.
After the game, he took to Instagram to clarify that it was an agitation against the attack on Portugal, an assertion his national team coach, Fernando Santos agreed to.
When the coach was asked whether Ronaldo would remain the captain of Portugal after his outburst on Saturday, the coach said: “yes, he will keep the armband. Forever.”
“Cristiano is a national example”, the coach said despite the criticism against Ronaldo’s outbursts especially by football fans outside Portugal.
“If he had offended the manager, his team-mates or the federation in a thoughtless attitude, then we would have to address the situation. But nothing like that happened.
“It was a moment of huge frustration. And we are talking about a player who is unbeatable when it comes to his eagerness to win.
“Nobody will say now that his reaction was beautiful, but there’s no point to discuss if Cristiano should remain the captain. That’s something I want to be very clear about.”
On Monday, March 29, 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo took to Twitter to share a picture showing when he was training with his national teammates to prove that he has moved on from Saturday’s incident.
🇵🇹❤️ pic.twitter.com/xZJltnCgaR
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) March 29, 2021
