Twitter explodes as Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal succumb to shocking 2-1 defeat against Serbia
Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal endured a shocking 2-1 defeat against Serbia in their last UEFA FIFA World Cup qualifier last night. The loss saw Portugal (17 points) finish second in Group A after the 3 points helped Serbia (20 points) leapfrog them into first place.
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored in the 90th minute as Serbia stunned Portugal with a 2-1 win to qualify for next year’s World Cup and leave Cristiano Ronaldo in danger of missing out on the tournament.
Notably, it was Portugal who opened the scoring as early as two minutes into the game when Renato Sanches made the most of Serbia's sloppy defending to find the back of the net. Dusan Tadic went on to bring Serbia level in the 33rd minute as the first half ended 1-1.
Aleksandar Mitrovic eventually broke Portuguese hearts in the dying embers of the game when he headed in the winner in the 90th minute to complete the upset and secure direct qualification.
Owing to last night's result, Portugal will now be forced to play in the playoffs to compete against runners-up from other groups in March in order to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Cristiano Ronaldo and co. could do little else but watch themselves being dealt a massive blow by Serbia. Despite having scored 6 goals for Portugal in the qualifying games, Cristiano Ronaldo was rendered helpless by Serbia and will naturally be gutted due to the result, as will the rest of the team.
Cristiano Ronaldo's team-mate Joao Palhinha reflected those exact sentiments in a post-match interview with Portugal's RTP television (via ESPN) and said:
"We have to take responsibility because we had a poor game. We just defended in the second half. Credit to Serbia, they played very well but we had the capacity to be on top.
"Everyone in the dressing room is disappointed but we have to look ahead to the playoffs now because we are more than good enough to be in the World Cup.
"You can't win all the time. Difficulties are part of life and this feeling should give us more strength."
On the other, Serbia were deservedly ecstatic with the result. Speaking to Serbian media, Dusan Tadic said:
"We came here to play football and having been the better side, we earned it all. We are reaping the rewards of hard work and the belief that we would be able to defy the odds and beat Portugal. We are overjoyed, for our country and the people first and foremost."
"We deserved to win tonight as the lads showed so much character. This is a massive accomplishment for Serbian football," he added.
"The team showed maturity and composure under the most intense pressure and I would have said the same thing if it had stayed 1-1 and we got confined to the playoffs."
Twitter was naturally set abuzz as people from all around the world took to the social media platform to express their thoughts after the game. Without further ado, here are some of the
Best reactions as Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal succumbed to Serbia
When Argentina needed a win to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, they conceded an early goal. Messi stepped in and scored a hat-trick to save Argentina. Portugal just needed a draw to qualify tonight and Ronaldo couldn't save them. They will now go for playoffs next year. 👀
If Cristiano Ronaldo is ghosting the 2022 World Cup be assured of Lionel Messi winning it
@LaurensJulien When Manchester united wins its Ronaldo and when they lose you blame Ole
Now when Portugal wins credit goes to Ronaldo and they lose Santos gets blamed
He is the most protected player
portugal needs to start felix instead of ronaldo if they actually want to win
@goal I’m a Messi fan but I feel bad for Ronaldo, he’s having an awful year. Portugal will qualify though
Portugal is finished
@Squawka @avi__avi__avi I wonder why @Cristiano couldn't finish the game by himself as the best "individual" player of all-time and always carry his team according to his fans, and it's disgusting when they always discredited his teammates and manager.
How did Portugal lose 😭 Need Ronaldo and Bruno in the WC or it won’t be the same
@brfootball Wtf??? If Portugal don't qualify Brazil better adopt CR7 next November. We can have such nonsense
Amid all the drama about CR7 & Portugal potentially missing out on the World Cup people are forgetting to properly credit Serbia for an amazing qualifying campaign. Not even in the last EURO but now topped the group unbeaten securing 20/24 points. A team to watch in Qatar 2022.
@Goated_Crono07 @007_Huss Portugal have such an abundance of forward talent like Andre Silva, Trincao (who can play on both wings), Pedro Neto, etc. but they keep rotating to Jota
Messi when Argentina's worldcup spot was on the line vs Ronaldo when portugal needed a win to qualify for Worldcup https://t.co/BsK1Kbno6G
LLOOOOOL PORTUGAL GOING TO PLAY-OFFS WHERES MR CLUTCH
When your favourite player doesn't perform in the crucial game and ghosts, just blame on the formation, manager, grass, sun, moon, stars and galaxy. Its that simple. #mufc #portugal #ENGLAND #WorldCupQualifiers2022
@MalachaieV Please let Portugal face farmers I beg😩🙏