Iceland hit back after ‘sore loser’ Ronaldo bemoans approach

The world of football has grown used to Cristiano Ronaldo’s self-absorbed fits of pique but he appears to have met his match after making the mistake of criticising Iceland after the Euro 2016 minnows held out for a fairytale draw against his Portugal side in St Etienne.

Ronaldo launched himself into an all-too-familiar controversy when he refused to shake hands with his opponents following a 1-1 draw against the smallest country ever to qualify for a major finals, a result which ranks as one of the great shocks of the competition so far.

While the rest of the football world revelled in the romance of seeing a country with a population of just 330,000 win a point against a tournament favourite, the Real Madrid star struggled to see the bigger picture — and that’s putting it kindly.

“We tried hard to win the game, Iceland didn’t try anything,” he said. “They scored a goal, they created two chances in the 90 minutes and otherwise they got every player behind the ball and they put the bus in the net. It was a lucky night for them.

“I thought they had won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end, it was unbelievable. When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality. It shows they are not going to do anything in the competition.”

His comments, however, have backfired. The much-valued Ronaldo brand is under threat after a huge reaction on social media and now Malmo defender Kari Arnason, who has also played for Rotherham, Plymouth Argyle and Aberdeen, has launched a formidable response.

“Ronaldo is a fantastic footballer — but he’s not a gracious human being,” he said.”

“This is the reason why Messi is always going to be one step ahead of him.

“But judging by his comments we clearly got under his skin. It makes it even sweeter when he’s a sore loser like that. I mean, he can say whatever he wants. He didn’t really get a chance — he got one and he couldn’t put it away. So what can I say? Sore loser. Tough.”

Arnason was clearly a little carried away with his vociferous response because Ronaldo didn’t actually lose the match, he actually earned a point which could yet prove vital in Portugal’s bid to reach the last 16.

“It’s just the beginning for us, we’re not worried about that,” Ronaldo said. “If you see Spain and France, they are the strongest teams in the tournament and even they had a difficult time to win their first game. So for us it was tough but we are confident. We’re 100% confident we’ll win our next game.”

As for Iceland, they now face Hungary with a realistic chance of progressing in Group F.

“Everyone loves an underdog story and anything can happen in this tournament,” said Arnason.