Unseen video of Cristiano Ronaldo’s enraged response to Portugal’s loss to Georgia has surfaced.
As the Euro 2024 group stage came to an end on Wednesday night, spectators witnessed one of the biggest upsets in the history of international football.
Playing in their first-ever major competition, Georgia defeated Portugal 2-0 to guarantee a spot in the round of sixteen as the top third-place team.
Georgia appeared like they would not make it out of Euro 2024 despite their impressive 3-1 loss to Turkiye on the opening day and their subsequent 1-1 draw with Czechia.
But the 74th-ranked team had other ideas, as top scorers for Euro 2024 Georges Mikautadze and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored to secure a historic victory.
Before Mikautadze’s penalty kick, Napoli star Kvaratskhelia—dubbed “Kvaradona” by supporters—scored inside the opening two minutes.
Georgia alternated between strong defence and swift counterattacks in between those two periods, but as the game went on, they had to withstand persistent pressure from Portugal.
Roberto Martinez replaced the beloved Cristiano Ronaldo with 25 minutes remaining due to Portugal’s severe lack of performance.
The 39-year-old was obviously upset by his manager’s choice, but his outburst at the full-time whistle seemed insignificant in comparison.
In a video that @losblancoszone posted on X, Ronaldo can be seen heading towards the tunnel, grabbing his shirt aggressively, and making angry gestures.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United player may have been referring to a penalty appeal he had waved aside with his shirt-grabbing action, though it’s unclear to whom he was directing his annoyance.
Ronaldo thought his shirt was pulled in the penalty area during the first half, but referee Sandro Schaerer waived play through and then booked the Portugal captain for his protests.
Ronaldo didn’t look good in the post-match footage that was captured from the stands, especially considering that he had been publicly expressing his dissatisfaction and whining to the officials for the majority of the game.
Even though Portugal had already won Group F, Ronaldo didn’t seem to want to congratulate Georgia on their incredibly remarkable accomplishment.
Portugal will play Slovenia on Monday in Frankfurt during the round of 16.