Cristiano Ronaldo could not control his emotions and broke down into tears after Portugal crashed out of the FIFA World Cup following a 1-0 loss against Morocco in the quarters.
After a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of an unbelievable Moroccan team in the quarter-final, Ronaldo and other players were seen crying — on and off the field.
A video went viral on social media in which Ronaldo can be seen leaving the field while having tears in his eyes.
The Portuguese star was probably playing his last FIFA World Cup. The former Real Madrid’s forward scored only a goal in this year’s mega event. He was also not a part of Portugal’s starting XI in the knockout stage.
Ronaldo also equalled the men’s international world record of 196 selections when he came on as a substitute for Portugal in the second half of the match.
Ronaldo, 37, who had started a second consecutive match on the bench, equalled the record set by Kuwait international Bader Al-Mutawa.
First African and Arab country to reach semis
Morocco wrote World Cup history tonight as the first African and Arab country to reach the tournament’s semi-finals, continuing their surprise run in Qatar with a shock 1-0 victory over the highly fancied Portugal.
Youssef En-Nesyri leapt high in the air to head home the game’s only goal just before half-time at the Al-Thumama Stadium to strike a significant blow against football’s established order and book a semi-final on Wednesday against either England or France, who meet later on Saturday.
The result will be widely celebrated across Africa and the Arabic-speaking Middle East, desperate to see one of their teams in contention for the biggest prize in football.
Morocco had already taken the scalps of Belgium and Spain in this tournament but the win over Portugal is of much greater significance.
It was also one of Morocco’s better performances in Qatar, full of determined defending and canny counters, keeping at bay a collection of world stars despite losing key defender Nayef Aguerd to injury before the match and his back four partner and captain Romain Saiss early in the second half.
