Ronaldo's Sportsmanship and Frustration in the 2018 World Cup Round of 16

Fans called Cristiano "classy" for helping injured Edinson Cavani off the pitch as Uruguay defeated his team. Cavani went down in what seems to have been a hamstring injury 17 minutes before the final whistle. Another wing of Twitter users claim that the referee had to ask Ronaldo to help Cavani as he limped off. Cynics suggest he helped Cavani in order to save precious time for his losing side.

  

Cristiano Ronaldo, 33, raged at referee Cesar Arturo Ramos after Ricardo Quaresma was denied a free-quick for a perceived Uruguay foul in the last minutes of the Sochi game. Quaresma and Ronaldo confronted the Mexican official, who was unmoved by their rants. Viewers believe Ronaldo said "F**k you" to the referee. The referee gave Ronaldo his second yellow card of the tournament for verbally abusing the referee.

 

Uruguay held on to their 2-1 edge over Portugal till the final whistle of the match was blown. Two goals scored by Edinson Cavani - before and after Pepe's equalizer got the South Americans their ticket to a quarterfinal against France. We were able to get the Real Madrid ace's post-game reaction in a video posted on FIFA's official Portuguese-language Twitter account. Ronaldo said, "I reckon it is not the right time to talk about the future, but I am sure that our national team will continue to be one of the best in the world, with awesome players, a fantastic group, and young as well." In his opinion, Portugal were unlucky to lose to Uruguay. "We have to congratulate Uruguay because they scored twice," he said. "However, we also have to praise Portugal for the match. In my opinion Portugal played better than Uruguay, we had some opportunities, but that is what football's about: who scores more goals wins, so that is why Uruguay is to be congratulated."

"Overall, we have to cheer ourselves up. As a captain, I am always proud of this group, the staff, and all the people who worked hard in order to this World Cup to be successful. In addition to that, I would like to congratulate the tournament's organisation, as it was very well structured, secured, very good." Portual's captain whom the team heavily relies on scored four times in their first two games. He was unable to score against Uruguay as centre-backs Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez marked him superbly. Cristiano has been mocked since Portugal's exit, for pulling his shorts up to an extreme degree before taking a free-kick shot that was blocked by Uruguay.

Ronaldo remains without a goal at the World Cup knockout stage despite being Europe's leading all-time international scorer. He will be 37 by the time the next edition of the World Cup comes up in Qatar.

Ronaldo leaving Russia photo credit - Tatyana Makeyeva - Reuters