LITHUANIA defenders were not the only ones made to look foolish by Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick on Thursday.
Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri was also left with egg on his face having claimed the Portuguese ace was crocked and not fit enough to play for his country.
Maurizio Sarri was left with egg on his face having claimed Ronaldo was crocked and not fit enough to playCredit: Reuters
At the final whistle, Ronaldo hugged Portugal manager Fernando Santos in a lasting, warm embrace as if to thank him for his continued support.
It was also two fingers up at Sarri.
If that was not galling enough for the Juve chief, Ronaldo’s sister Katia Aveiro had her say on matters in more cryptic fashion, posting an image of her brother in his Portugal kit on to social media.
Alongside the image, she wrote: “And he’s finished! Imagine if he wasn’t. Sister’s pride! Now think!”
She clearly wanted to hammer home the point her brother, at 34-years-old, is still the main man for both club and country.
And she took a snipe at those who believe the football superstar is past his best or finished at the top level.
Ronaldo hugged Portugal manager Fernando Santos in a lasting, warm embrace as if to thank him for his continued supportCredit: Reuters
Meanwhile, Santos said: “I never had any doubts about his condition, it was other people who had them. Nothing surprises me about Cristiano.”
Former Chelsea chief Sarri claimed his leading scorer had a long-standing knee injury after substituting him in the 55th minute of Juve’s 1-0 win at home to Milan on Sunday.
Clearly the injury was not enough to stop angry Ron — furious after being taken off by Sarri for the second successive match — from storming down the tunnel and reportedly out of the stadium before the final whistle.
Sarri expressed concerns about the star’s fitness afterwards and said he feared his club’s £99million record signing could aggravate the injury if he placed one foot in the Algarve against Lithuania.
The way the Italian was speaking, it was not so much do or die, but do and die for the ex-Manchester United ace.
But Ronnie wasted no time making a mug of Sarri, just like he has countless opponents in the past, by firing the treble in his country’s 6-0 win.
Cristiano Ronaldo ‘leaves Juventus Stadium early’ as he was ‘annoyed’ at being subbed off for match-winner, Paulo Dybala
It took his tally to 98 international goals. He could become only the second man to reach three figures against Luxembourg tomorrow.
The Portugal captain scored an early penalty before curling in a second. Pizzi, Goncalo Paciencia and Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva then netted before the latter set up Ron for his third.
Ronaldo’s NINTH international hat-trick — with seven of those coming since his 30th birthday — takes him to within 11 goals of Iran legend Ali Daei’s world-record tally of 109.
This is his joint most goals in a calendar year for Portugal with 13 — all coming in his past seven caps — matching his 2016 total.
Ron has scored 34 goals in 57 appearances for Juve and yet it seems Sarri does not rate him.
In the same way, he did not rate Callum Hudson-Odoi and several others at Chelsea last season.
Sarri fought the Blues fans and dressing room and lost. It will be interesting to see how this battle pans out.
Ronaldo’s sister Katia Aveiro posted an image of her brother in his Portugal kit on to social mediaCredit: The Mega Agency
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
