Referee's Error Comes Back to Hunt Ronaldo as his Last-Minute Winner for Portugal VS Serbia was Ruled Out

Referee's Error Comes Back to Hunt Ronaldo as his Last-Minute Winner for Portugal VS Serbia was Ruled Out

Akan Anwankwo
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:51 PM
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  • Cristiano Ronaldo's disallowed goal would have qualified Portugal for the World Cup ahead of their group rivals Serbia
  • The five-time Ballon d'Or winner scored a last-minute gasp against Serbia in the first leg but was incorrectly spotted in an offside position
  • The 36-year-old and his teammates will now have to wait for the playoffs which is scheduled to hold next year March

Cristiano Ronaldo would have got the automatic ticket for Portugal to the World Cup if his last-minute goal against Serbia in the first leg stood, Sports Keeda, Instagram.

The Selecao were beaten by their group rivals Serbia by 2-1 in the second leg which cost Ronaldo and co an automatic ticket to Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Aleksandar Mitrovic broke Portugal's hearts with a 90th-minute header that gave the Eastern Europeans their ticket to Qatar.

Ronaldo's disallowed goal against Serbia in first leg proved costly
Cristaino Roanldo's disallowed goal against Serbia proved costly to their chances of getting an automatic ticket. Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic
Source: Getty Images

The significance of the referee denying Ronaldo' goal in the first leg against Serbia

However, in the reverse fixture played in Serbia in March, a similar situation occurred where the Portuguese side were denied a win.

Liverpool striker Diogo Jota had put his team ahead in the 11th minute and 36th, but Serbia came back in the second half scoring two goals from the boots of Mitrovic and Nikola Milenkovic.

As the match headed into injury time Ronaldo beat the offside and scored what seemed to be the winner only to be denied by the referee.

The replay on the VAR showed that the 36-year-old was not guilty of being in an offside position but was ruled out and the final white had been blown.

Out of frustration Ronaldo removed his captain's armband and threw it on the floor before storming into the dressing room.

The result would have been relevant if it had gone in Portugal's way as both sides will be level on points and Fernando Saches'z men would clinch the automatic ticket to the Mundial.

Fans slam Ronaldo for wasting last-minute opportunity against Serbia

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that fans are not holding back their anger after Cristiano Ronaldo was selfish in the final minutes of Portugal's 2-1 loss to Serbia in their final World Cup qualifier, Sport Bible, Twitter.

The Selecao got themselves trailing after going ahead in the first half through Renato Sanches but Dusan Tadic equalized later on.

Before Aleksandr Mitrovic headed home in the winner in the 90th minute to give the Eastern European the automatic ticket to next year's World Cup.

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Akan Anwankwo
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