Cristiano Ronaldo proved that he is a no-nonsense professional footballer when he decided to tame Irish footballer Dara O’Shea by slapping him during a FIFA World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, September 1, 2021.
During the 2022 World Cup qualifier which took place at Estadio Algarve, Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes was fouled inside the penalty box. The referee awarded a spot-kick in favor of Portugal.
As expected, Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take the spot-kick which he naturally ought to score. He placed the ball on the penalty spot and took a step back as usual.
When the 36-year-old football star was trying to focus on the assignment before him, Ireland’s Dara O’Shea decided to play on the emotions of Cristiano Ronaldo by stylishly kicking the ball off the spot.
To the dismay of many who thought Ronaldo is just a professional that is more concerned with doing the right thing on the pitch, the 5-times Ballon d’Or winner decided to slap Dara O’Shea.
Immediately the slap landed on the face of the 22-year-old Irish defender who is currently contracted to West Brom, O’Shea held his face as seriously as he could and went down to attract the attention of the referee.
Fortunately for Cristiano Ronaldo, the referee decided not to pay attention to the antics of Dara O’Shea. Hence, the Manchester United returnee went on with the spot-kick.
However, one of the missions of the 22-year-old Irish defender which was to destabilize Ronaldo ahead of the kick worked perfectly. The Portuguese football star could not keep his cool; hence, his spot-kick was saved by 19-year-old Irish goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu in the 15th minute of the game.
Ireland went on to take the lead in the 45th minute through the boots of John Egan and they were able to drag the game until the last minute.
In the 89th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo broke the hearts of the resilient Irish footballers by scoring the equalizer via a header. When the visitors thought they would run away with a draw, Ronaldo scored another header in the additional 6th minute to end the game 2-1.
As for Dara O’Shea, his journey in the game ended in the 36th minute due to fitness issues. He could not recover fast enough after colliding with Portugal’s Diego Jota, hence, he had to be substituted.
Funny enough, the game in which Ronaldo suppose to be embarrassed out of the pitch before the 15th minute turned out to be the game that made him the all-time highest goalscorer in international football.
His first goal in the match broke Ali Daei’s 109 goals record and his second header set a new world record. Ronaldo now has a record of 111 international goals in his football career.
