Gary Lineker has poked fun at Cristiano Ronaldo after Portugal's first goal against Uruguay was awarded to Bruno Fernandes instead of the veteran forward.
That is despite Portugal reportedly presenting evidence that he had got the final touch on the cross from Fernandes into the box in the 54th minute of the group stage match on Monday. The Manchester United playmaker's cross eluded the Uruguayan defence and goalkeeper Sergio Rochet to open the scoring.
But on its way through, Ronaldo jumped up and appeared to attempt to head the ball in for his second goal of the tournament. The stadium announcer at the Lusail Iconic Stadium though announced Fernandes as the scorer, despite Ronaldo's energetic celebration, with the United star later confirmed as the scorer.
The Portuguese superstar ended his relationship with Man United by mutual consent last week, following his bombshell interview with Piers Morgan. He has now switched fully to international mode and is aiming to break multiple different World Cup records.
Ronaldo became the first player to score in five different World Cups when he netted against Ghana in his nation's opening World Cup game.
However, he was denied a second goal of the 2022 tournament with Adidas confirming that he did not touch the cross from Fernandes on its way into the net.
Lineker then poked fun at Ronaldo by quote-tweeting the confirmation of the goal being awarded officially to Fernandes instead of the 37-year-old. The BBC's lead presenter of their World Cup coverage cheekily wrote on Twitter: "Whoever would've thought?"
The match ball at the World Cup is made by Adidas and provides cutting-edge technology which allows real-time data to be provided to match officials.
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This is primarily useful for offside decisions, but can also determine whether the ball changed direction at all after moving past a player.
A FIFA statement on the goal declared: "In the match between Portugal and Uruguay, using the Connected Ball Technology housed in Adidas' Al Rihla Official Match Ball, we are able to definitively show no contact on the ball from Cristiano Ronaldo for the opening goal in the game.
"No external force on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack of 'heartbeat' in our measurements. The 500Hz IMU sensor inside the ball allows us to be highly accurate in our analysis."
