Cristiano Ronaldo sent home by Portugal following red card as Bruno Fernandes claims ex-Man Utd team-mate 'made things more difficult'

However, the Selecao's progression to the 2026 World Cup isn't quite so cut and dry following Thursday's reverse. Troy Parrott bagged a first half brace for the Boys In Green as Ireland made it back-to-back wins to give their play-off hopes a much-needed shot in the arm.

Ireland now face Hungary, who sit one point above Heimir Hallgrimsson's side, on Sunday afternoon needing to win in order to leapfrog the Magyars into second place. Hungary may yet finish first if they win and Portugal lose to Armenia, though even without Ronaldo, that seems unlikely.

The 40-year-old won't be hanging around to watch Portugal's game at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto on Sunday afternoon after the experienced striker was 'released from the national team' according to Portuguese publication A Bola. Ronaldo had put in a sluggish performance up until his dismissal in what proved a frustrating evening for the Portugal captain.

Before the game, Ronaldo had promised to be a 'good boy' upon his return to Ireland, stating: "I really like the fans here. The support they give to their national team is lovely.

"For me, it's a pleasure to play here again, I hope they don't boo me too much tomorrow - I swear that I'm going to try to be a good boy."

Ronaldo's red card was met with disbelief by the experienced striker, who turned to sarcastically applaud the home crowd before trudging towards the tunnel. And the Al-Nassr hitman had to be held back by former Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho after the Portuguese hero appeared to mouth 'well done' in the direction of the Irish dugout.

Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez came to the defence of Ronaldo after Thursday's defeat and argued that the captain's outburst was not 'violent'. "Of course, we spoke I think it's difficult for a player like Cristiano, who's in the box. And today he had two defenders constantly in physical contact," Martinez said.

"There's no violence. He tries to push the defender away and he was unlucky that the VAR... the angle of the images [makes it look] worse than what happened. It's Ronaldo's first red card for the national team, it's incredible."

A straight red card on the international stage tends to carry a two-match ban, which means Ronaldo may miss Portugal's World Cup opener if they to get the job done against Armenia and avoid needing to jet stateside next summer via the play-offs.

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Manchester United captain and Ronaldo's Portugal team-mate Bruno Fernandes has admitted that the frontman made a mistake but that his dismissal made things more difficult in Ireland last week. Fernandes, who sat out the game against Ireland owing to a ban of his own, said: "That happens in football, a moment where Cris had a reaction that cost him dearly.

"Something he didn't want to do, but it ended up happening. He knows he made a mistake and unfortunately couldn't help us, but it doesn't change the fact that we were already behind in the game.

"It made things a little more difficult, because we were playing with 10 men and didn't have a player who could score a goal at any moment."

Portugal are still expected to finish top of Group F on Sunday as they gear up to take on Armenia on home turf. Armenia have lost four of their five World Cup qualifiers, including a resounding 5-0 loss to Martinez's men at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium back in September.

Ronaldo scored twice in that resounding victory, while Joao Felix - twice - and Joao Cancelo also got on the scoresheet earlier in the year.