Referee Danny Makkelie has apologized for ruling out Cristiano Ronaldo’s clear goal in Portugal’s controversial draw against Serbia.
It would be recalled that during the match staged last week, Ronaldo walked off the field and threw away the captain’s armband before the final whistle was blown after his clear winner was denied in a controversial end to Portugal’s 2-2 draw with Serbia in their World Cup Group A qualifier.
Serbia defender, Stefan Mitrovic, had tried to clear Ronaldo’s shot off the line, but to no avail as the ball crossed into the goal.
However, referee Danny Makkelie ruled out the goal in the absence oVAR or goal-line technology to check the call.
But Portugal head coach, Fernando Santos, has told the media that the referee has apologized for his costly blunder.
“I don’t know what happened, I was told he reacted badly. It’s the normal frustration of someone who scores the winning goal for Portugal and it doesn’t count. I will not go into it any further,” according to Santos.
“The referee apologised and told me that he was ashamed. I was in the changing room with him and he apologised. He told me on the pitch that he was going to look at the images and if it was the case, he would call me to apologise … and that’s what he did,” he added.
By Melvin Tarlue