Portugal’s head coach, Roberto Martínez, has made a plea to FIFA to be merciful to Cristiano Ronaldo, who was sent off during a shocking 2-0 loss to Ireland. After the hour mark, Ronaldo was given a red card when VAR detected an elbow on Dara O’Shea; thus, the 39-year-old could be missing the first two games of the 2026 World Cup due to this.
Ronaldo is already out of the remaining qualifying games, but if FIFA rules it as violent conduct, it could be that the player gets a suspension of several games in next summer’s tournament. The coach, however, emphasized that the whole incident was a reaction to continuous provocation and not a display of aggression.
“I witnessed his reaction to a provocation,” said the boss of Portugal. “It started right from the beginning and even before the game. It was not a violent action. It would be very unfair to impose a long suspension.”
Sources in Portugal report that the football federation may very well go through the legal process of appealing against the punishment and requesting it to be reduced to one match.
Ronaldo has been withdrawn from the squad for the match with Armenia on Sunday and this is a usual procedure, as explained by Martínez, for players who get suspended. “When a player is not available, he isn’t in the squad. That’s how we operate,” he said, defending Ronaldo’s commitment and signaling the dismissal of rumors regarding internal friction.
