Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson said Cristiano Ronaldo only had himself to blame for the straight red card he received during Portugal's shock 2-0 loss at Aviva Stadium.
A Troy Parrott brace helped the Boys in Green to a victory that keeps their World Cup play-off hopes alive, but it's Ronaldo's dismissal that will undoubtedly make headlines across the globe.
The 40-year-old swung an elbow at Dara O'Shea just before the hour mark, getting his marching orders after a VAR check.
Prior to the game, Hallgrimsson suggested Ronaldo had influenced the referee when the countries met in Lisbon. As he walked off the field in Dublin, Ronaldo aimed a few remarks at Hallgrimsson, who was unruffled afterwards.
"He lost his focus a little bit, again maybe the fans helped a little bit in that," the Icelander told RTÉ Sport.
"He was frustrated and reacted in a way that he knows he shouldn't.
"Yeah he said to me walking away, told me (Hallgrimsson's pre-match remarks were) a clever thing to do and he blamed the referee or whomever, but it was his silly decision to attack our player."
Cristiano Ronaldo is given a red card after a VAR review for an elbow
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 13, 2025
Mimicked tears, a clash with the Ireland manager and an all-time send-off from the crowd follow. Dublin is no longer "lovely" for him
📺 Watch https://t.co/XnOP6grnB7
📱 Live updates https://t.co/TgtjK2dsDN pic.twitter.com/E6IjPgPvaf
Ireland are still alive in the group, but they now need to go to Hungary and win again this Sunday.
That will be another really tall order, however Hallgrimsson at least has a big win under his belt to help generate positive momentum.
"I'm just proud, proud of the performance of the guys," he added.
"It was hard work, it was discipline and focus, but most of all it was good team work. We kept them at bay. There were shots from outside (the area) yes, a few, but they never kind of played through us.
"Defensively we were really solid. A big improvement in possession from Portugal. We should have scored more than two goals to be honest.
"I think it was a perfect example of how you play a team with this individual quality that Portugal had."
On the Budapest showdown, Hallgrimsson stressed: "That is what we wanted, it is in our hands and with a performance like this we have a chance.
"We have to focus and recover, we have tired legs and the staff need to work really hard to get everyone fit and ready because that game is very important now.
"We won the second game in the last window and rotated players and happy we did that today. Those who played 90 minutes will be tired but hopefully everyone will be ready."
