Cristiano Ronaldo had promised to remain a “good boy” even if Irish fans booed him. But that pledge collapsed quickly in Dublin. The Portuguese star lost his composure, received his first red card of his international career, and Portugal went on to suffer a 2–0 defeat against Ireland.
Roberto Martínez’s side faced Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday night. Although Portugal controlled most of the match—holding 72% possession and taking 14 shots—they failed to score. Ireland made the most of their limited chances, converting two of their three shots on target.
Ireland Strikes Twice, Portugal Collapses
Troy Parrott opened the scoring for Ireland in the 17th minute when Liam’s header from a corner reached him, and he nodded it home with ease. Just minutes earlier, Portugal narrowly escaped conceding after goalkeeper Diogo Costa almost gifted Parrott a goal under pressure.
Ireland kept pushing, and another corner rattled the far post in the 38th minute. Portugal struggled to create anything meaningful, and Parrott punished them again before halftime. In the 45th minute, he dribbled into the box and struck a sharp finish at the near post to make it 2–0.
One observer described Portugal’s poor response bluntly:
“𝑰𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒔.”
Ronaldo Sees First-Ever International Red Card
The second half brought even more frustration for Portugal. Ronaldo received a yellow card for elbowing an Irish defender, but VAR upgraded it to a red. It was the first time in 225 international matches that the Portuguese captain had been sent off.
As he walked off, Ronaldo sarcastically applauded the Irish fans and appeared to argue with the Irish coach near the dugout. The incident could result in a multi-match suspension—possibly affecting the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
A Portuguese team official noted,
“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑹𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒅𝒐. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕.”
Group F Still Wide Open
Despite the loss, Portugal remains atop Group F with 10 points from five matches. Hungary follows with 8 points, while Ireland sits close behind with 7. All three teams still have a realistic chance of earning direct qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
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