Cristiano Ronaldo refused to divulge whether he deliberately picked up a card in the final few minutes of Portugal’s 1-1 draw against Israel.
With only one game remaining in Group F, Portugal would enter the playoffs for the 2014 World Cup. Currently they trail Russia by three points and seven goals.
Israel is five points behind Portugal. This means that the last remaining group match against Luxembourg doesn not hold any significance.
Ronaldo picked up a yellow card in injury time for protesting. This means that he won’t be able to take part against the minnows. He refused to comment on whether the tactic to be booked was deliberate.
“I can’t talk about that,” Ronaldo told reporters. “FIFA is very attentive to such situations. The playoff is very important and I would not like to be out of it.”
He commented that “it isn’t an act” to be a part of the playoffs. However, he admitted that he didn’t want to face France. “France are the strongest team we may fave. I would like to avoid them as much as possible.”, he said. Portugal might face Croatia, Sweden and either England or Ukraine.
He was unimpressed with the way his side performed in the match with Israel. He felt that the standards are being lowered. “We need to improve in many aspects. Israel had two buses beyond the ball. It was difficult to score”, he added.