Cristiano Ronaldo ripped off his captain’s armband, hurled it on to the pitch and stormed off in disgust after Portugal’s 2-2 draw at Serbia in World Cup qualifying.
In a split second, Ronaldo had gone from savouring a last-gasp winner for his country to protesting a clear refereeing oversight with no video review available.
The Portugal star thought he had scored a stoppage-time goal when Serbia defender Stefan Mitrovic slid and swept the ball clear, though TV replays indicated it was over the line.
However, for Dutch referee Danny Makkelie the ball had not crossed, and he rewarded Ronaldo’s complaints with a yellow card.
Juventus forward Ronaldo made a veiled reference to the incident in a social media posting after the match.
“Being captain of the Portugal team is one of the greatest sources of pride and privileges of my life. I always give and will give everything for my country, that will never change," he wrote on Instagram.
"But there are difficult times to deal with, especially when we feel that an entire nation is being harmed. Lift your head and face the next challenge now!”
Portugal coach Fernando Santos said "it isn't possible" that Ronaldo's attempt could be ruled out.
"We scored a goal that was not given when the ball went in," Santos told Portuguese broadcaster RTP."In a match of this level, that isn't possible."
The match had started brightly for the Portuguese with two first-half headers from Diogo Jota that gave the away side a commanding lead at the break.
However Aleksandar Mitrovic pulled one back for the hosts seconds after the restart and Filip Kostic levelled the scores on the hour mark when he collected Nemanja Radonjic's through ball and slotted home a smart finish.
Nikola Milenkovic was sent off a minute into added time before the key moment of the match denied Ronaldo a last-gasp winner.
Portugal midfielder Danilo Pereira was equally dumbfounded at the decision to not award the goal.
"We tried to get a third goal and we managed to do it but the referee didn't allow it although in my opinion it was clearly a goal," he said.
"In any case, we can't afford to be two goals ahead and then get pegged back."
