Portugal Manager Roberto Martinez said\u00a0Cristiano Ronaldo\u2018s red card against Ireland was harsh after the forward was sent off for the first time in an international match in their 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat in Dublin on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo initially received a yellow card for lashing out with an elbow to the back of Ireland defender Dara O\u2019Shea but the sanction was upgraded to red after a review.<\/p>\n
It was his first sending off in 226 appearances for the national side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a bit harsh because he cares about the team,\u201d Martinez told reporters. \u201cHe was almost 60 minutes in the box being grabbed, pulled, pushed and obviously he tries to get away from the defender.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the action looks worse than what it actually is. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an elbow, I think it\u2019s a full body, but from where the camera is, it looks like an elbow. But we accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez also questioned Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson\u2019s comments about Ronaldo \u201ccontrolling the referee\u201d in the reverse fixture in Lisbon last month, which Portugal won 1-0.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth is at the press conference yesterday, Ireland coach was talking about the aspect of the referees being influenced, and then a big center half falls on the floor so dramatically at the turn of Cristiano\u2019s body,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n
Portugal, who are assured at least a playoff spot, are two points clear of Hungary at the top of Group F with a superior goal difference. The Irish are one point further back.<\/p>\n
Portugal host Armenia while Ireland travel to face Hungary in the final round of fixtures on Sunday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15262,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-15261","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ronaldo initially received a yellow card for lashing out with an elbow to the back of Ireland defender Dara O\u2019Shea.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Ronaldo initially received a yellow card for lashing out with an elbow to the back of Ireland defender Dara O\u2019Shea.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19575,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15261\/revisions\/19575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}