Furious Cristiano Ronaldo can't help himself as angry four-part tirade sees him punished

Fury, thy name is Cristiano.

Few footballers do, or have ever, pulled off an on-field temper tantrum like Portugal’s captain. Throughout his long, distinguished career, supporters at Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al-Nassr and his national side have become more than accustomed to them.

And in Portugal’s final Euro 2024 group stage match against Georgia, trailing 1-0 to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s early goal and a shade shy of the half hour mark, Ronaldo pulled out a beauty.

There’s no doubt about it, as Pedro Neto clipped up a cross into the penalty area, Ronaldo was wrestled to the ground. His marker was all over him, hands here, there and everywhere, his shirt ripped up. Ronaldo ended on the deck. Sitting, legs akimbo, he complained. His hands shot into the air as he appealed, a number of team-mates doing likewise. Referee Sandro Scharer didn’t want to know, he was following the ball.

Ronaldo’s attention turned to the assistant. Now up on his knees, he gesticulated wildly, pulling his own shirt, pointing to his eye, asking ‘how did you not see that?’

Like the man in blue in the middle, the man in blue on the touchline carried on with the game.

So, part three of his complaints saw Ronaldo throw and arm up towards the Portuguese dugout, where Roberto Martinez was standing in his technical area. The message here was simple too: ‘Check the monitors!’ ‘Get VAR on the case’.

Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after being pulled down

Cristiano Ronaldo addresses a linesman

But as the ball went out of play and the game was stopped very, very briefly, the referee allowed Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili to kick off again.

Cue part four of Ronaldo’s riposte.

This time he did collar the referee’s attention, another arm shooting in the air in disgust. He waltzed over to the referee, still apoplectic with rage, said something, and was shown yellow by the Swiss official.

Ronaldo gestures to the referee

A furious Cristiano Ronaldo

Off he strutted, another arm up in the air, disgusted with the injustice of it all.

The stadium screens put up his name and the PA announcer told all in attendance he had indeed been booked - giving cause for more frenzied cheers from the vast Georgian presence in Gelsenkirchen.

Indeed, it was a miserable night overall for Ronaldo, as Portugal fell to defeat, losing 2-0 in the biggest shock in Euros history.

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