There were tears in the tunnel. Cristiano Ronaldo has spent too much of 2022 struggling to contain his emotions. This time, at least, he could be forgiven for displaying them. There may have been an element of selfishness about the way the substitute stalked off the pitch, leaving his teammates to commiserate with each other and acknowledge the outnumbered Portuguese contingent in the stands.
Certainly, a man who knows the cameras are trained on him scarcely felt supportive when shaking his head as Ruben Dias and Diogo Costa erred while Youssef En-Nesyri headed in the only goal; it was a Ronaldo-esque finish, but they often are, given the range and volume of goals he has scored over the last two decades.
