Ronaldo accused of aiming PUNCH at Irish rival before spurning chance to break world goalscoring record by MISSING PENALTY (VIDEO)
Cristiano Ronaldo spurned his first big opportunity to break the all-time international goalscoring record as he missed a first half penalty against Ireland - but football fans accused him of aiming a PUNCH at a rival beforehand.
New Manchester United signing Ronaldo needs just one more goal on his tally to bypass Iran's Ali Daei and become the all-time top scorer in international football with 110 strikes - and had a chance to do just that a quarter of an hour into Portugal's World Cup Qualifier agains the Republic of Ireland at the Estadio Algarve.
How is that a penalty 🤣 and they didn’t play it in fast motion and Ronaldo throw a punch and did not get sent off @FIFAWorldCup is corrupt pic.twitter.com/UF3vktbftA
But it was a contentious one. Ronaldo's new teammate at Old Trafford, Bruno Fernandes, went down under a challenge from Ireland's Jeff Hendrick in the box and despite those in green-tinted glasses suggesting the Fernandes made the most of the challenge, the referee opted to point to the spot after prolonged debate with VAR.
And that's where the fun started. With Ronaldo hovering around the penalty spot in anticipation of etching his name into the history books once again, Irish defender Dara O'Shea attempted a bit of gamesmanship and rolled the ball away from the penalty spot - prompting a furious reaction from Ronaldo as he lashed out at the Irishman with his arm, sending him tumbling to the turf.
Some claimed Ronaldo had got off lightly, despite the contact appearing minimal (if any).
Ireland will say that justice was done when 19-year-old Manchester City prospect Gavin Bazunu smartly dove to his left to paw away the spot-kick to the delight of Irish fans and, presumably, the Daei household.
It seems likely that Ronaldo will generate one or two more opporunities to get on the scoresheet against an Irish defence which has proved porous in recent outings under new boss Stephen Kenny - but for now at least, Irish eyes are smiling.
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