Former England right-back Gary Neville has admitted that it was 'horrible' to see former Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo break down in tears after Portugal's World Cup exit on Saturday.
After blitzing past Switzerland in the last-16, winning 6-1, the 2016 European Champions exited the competition at the quarter-final stage, suffering a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Morocco. Striker Youssef En-Nesyri netted the only goal of the game, planting a first-half header to set up a semi-final showdown with France.
Portugal threw everything at Morocco in the second half in the hope of getting back into the contest, so much so that manager Fernando Santos turned to his bench and brought on Ronaldo, who was once again left on the bench, with Goncalo Ramos preferred up front. Centre-back Pepe went the closest to forcing the game to extra-time, sending a late header just wide.
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Understandably, the full-time whistle was met with great pain and anguish within the Portugal camp, but not least for Ronaldo. The former United striker headed straight towards the tunnel and back to the dressing room.
Once inside the tunnel, Ronaldo was filmed crying and being truly devastated at the fact his World Cup dream, at the age of 37, has now come to an end. He was determined to go all the way with Portugal in Qatar and complete his collection of trophies with the biggest prize in football.
Although Neville has been critical of Ronaldo in recent months, not least because of his interview with Piers Morgan, which directly led to United offloading the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, the former right-back did have a feeling of sympathy for the Portuguese goal-getter.
"I do want to mention Cristiano Ronaldo because I saw that image of him crying in the tunnel," said Neville, speaking on his Sky Sports podcast. "That was a horrible image for me.
"That's that moment where he knows his dream of winning the World Cup for his country has gone.
"We've all been there at the end of our careers, but he's one of the greatest, if not the greatest player of all-time. It was horrible to see him like that. He's had a tough couple of months."
Addressing Portugal's World Cup exit, Ronaldo posted on Instagram: "Winning a World Cup for Portugal was the biggest and most ambitious dream of my career. Fortunately, I won many titles of international dimension, including for Portugal, but putting the name of our country on the biggest one in the world was my biggest dream.
"I battled for it. I fought hard for this dream. In the five presences that I scored in World Cups over 16 years, always alongside great players and supported by millions of Portuguese people, I gave it my all.
"I left everything on the pitch. I never gave up the fight or dream. Unfortunately, yesterday [Saturday] the dream ended.
"It is not worth reacting too hot. I just want everyone to know that much has been said, much has been written, much has been speculated, but my dedication to Portugal has never changed for an instant. I was always one more person fighting for everyone’s goal and I would never turn my back on my teammates and my country.
"For now, there's not much more to say. Thank you, Portugal. Thank you, Qatar. The dream was beautiful while it lasted… Now, it's time to allow history to tell the story and for each one to draw their own conclusions."
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