Portugal head coach Fernando Santos has revealed the exact words Cristiano Ronaldo told a Serbian player in the aftermath of a dramatic world Cup qualifier.
With a last-minute goal from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Serbia stunned Portugal by defeating them on their own ground and leapfrogging them to a place at the World Cup.
"It doesn't make sense," Santos told TVI.
"When the game was over, the disappointment was brutal.
"If it was [hard to take] for the Portuguese people, imagine how it was for the players and staff. The players were on the ground.
"I went to the pitch to support and comfort the players, he [Ronaldo] was telling a Serbian player: 'You wouldn't be laughing if the goal I scored there hadn't been cancelled out'. What I told him was to take it easy."
In the first game between the sides, Ronaldo's match-winning goal in injury time was not seen by the referee. As there was no VAR at the game, there was no one to correct him.
At the time, Ronaldo was in such despair that he threw his captain's armband on the ground. It's almost as if he knew how meaningful that mistake would turn out to be.
