The FIFA World Cup 2022 came to a spectacular end on Sunday last week as Argentina lifted their third title, beating France in the final. In a dramatic match that went to penalty shootout, Argentina defeated the 2018 champions 4-2 (3-3) as Lionel Messi lifted his maiden World Cup title. With the victory, Messi also completed the set of major international honours with Argentina, having already won the Copa America (South American continental tournament) title in 2021.
The tournament, however, ended in failure for Portugal’s legendary forward Cristiano Ronaldo, whose side was handed a stunning defeat by Morocco in the quarter-finals. Youssef El-Nesyri scored the only goal of the game in the 42nd minute of the match as Ronaldo started from the bench in the knock-out tie; the 37-year-old forward came on early in the second half but failed to make a difference.
At 37, Ronaldo might have made his last World Cup appearance; and so, the fans took offence at a particular tweet from the official Twitter handle of the FIFA World Cup, accusing the account of trolling the football great. In the picture, Ronaldo, wearing a Portugal training jersey, could be seen giving a thumbs up; the picture was captioned, “Thumbs up if you really enjoyed the #FIFAWorldCup.”
The tweet was deleted following immense backlash from the fans but one Twitter user took its screenshot:
Here were some of the replies to the original tweet:
Earlier, following his exit from the World Cup, Ronaldo posted a long note on his official Instagram profile thanking his fans for their support throughout the tournament. The Portugal forward had been at the centre of controversies over the past few months; last month, Ronaldo gave an explosive interview to journalist Piers Morgan about his time at Manchester United that led to his departure from the club, and during the World Cup, Ronaldo was benched for the side’s knock-out stage matches that led to significant concerns over his relationship with manager Fernando Santos.
Ronaldo is currently without a club and was reported to have trained at Real Madrid’s training facility merely four days after Portugal’s World Cup exit.