Ref finally apologised to Ronaldo after disallowing his goal for Portugal against Serbia

Portugal manager, Fernando Santos has said that referee Danny Makkelie has apologised to his team after disallowing Cristiano Ronaldo’s late goal in their 2-2 draw against Serbia on Saturday.

Recall that Portugal raced to a two goals led when Diogo Jota scored twice before Serbia pulled back comeback with two goals in the second half. 

But Santos told reporters that, “The referee afterwards saw what had happened and came to me to apologise for the mistake.”

Ronaldo scored a late but the Dutch referee and his assistants judged that Serbia defender, Stefan Mitrovic cleared the ball, even though replays showed that the ball clearly crossed the line.

Speaking further, Santos said: “I don’t have an explanation [for the result]. I just can’t bring myself. We studied Serbia.

“We knew how to play them, like we did in the first half. We knew they could change it up, and had the players to do it,

“Serbia started the first half well and scored.

“They tied the match but we reacted well, creating opportunities. At the end, the ball was half a metre in but it was not given. It would have been a just result if it counted.

“Of course, it does not make up for the fact that we didn’t do well enough. But, if we had the ball in the goal, it should have counted.”