The president of the Uruguayan Football Federation, Ignacio Alonso, has lashed out at Cristiano Ronaldo in the wake of Uruguay's early exit from the World Cup last week.
Portugal qualified as the winners of Group H ahead of South Korea, who dumped Uruguay out of the tournament courtesy of a stunning 2-1 victory over Fernando Santos' side during a dramatic final round of group fixtures.
Uruguay had cantered to a 2-0 win over Ghana, but after blanking in both of their previous games, were eliminated on goal difference. With Uruguay chasing goals at the end of the game in a desperate bid to survive, they were left incensed after referee Daniel Siebert waved away two penalty appeals. Frustrations boiled over at the end of the match and resulted in unsavoury scenes.
But instead of attempting to gloss over the bitter fallout from their exit, Alonso has stoked the flames by slamming the standards of match officials - and citing an incident that saw Ronaldo awarded a soft penalty in Portugal's slender win over Ghana earlier in the tournament.
“The two referees who made serious mistakes in our games won't even referee in the World Cup anymore and in the other group games there were also irregularities. Someone just coughs next to Cristiano Ronaldo and they score a penalty," Alonso sniped to Teledoce.
The Uruguay chief also addressed the speculation surrounding the position of current boss Diego Alonso, whose position is believed to be in jeopardy following the team's poor performance at the tournament. It was claimed last week that former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa was a contender to take charge if Uruguay do decide to make a change in the coming weeks.
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And Alonso refused to dampen talk of a change; although he admitted if the decision were solely down to him, then he would keep with the current Uruguay boss. He added: “We have 10 days to think about it.
"If I were the only one to decide, Diego would renew, I have a lot of confidence in him and he deserves respect for qualifying us for the World Cup. We are not negotiating with anyone else. If there is no agreement with Diego, we will look for another coach."
Regardless of who is in the dugout for Uruguay going forward, it's likely they will have to cope without the services of defensive lynchpin Diego Jimenez, who could be slapped with a 15-game ban for his actions following the conclusion of the match against Ghana.
The Atletico Madrid ace, 27, appeared to elbow a FIFA official in the back of the head during his attempts to confront Siebert, who he also claimed was a "son of a b***h" in a furious post-match tirade caught on camera.
