“It would be smarter not to do it” - After Cristiano Ronaldo receives red card against Ireland, Thomas Tuchel issues warning to England stars

England manager Thomas Tuchel has sent a warning to his players after Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for Portugal. He wants his squad to make smart decisions on the pitch and avoid red cards when unnecessary.

Speaking to the media ahead of the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Albania, Tuchel admitted that he has been telling his players to avoid red cards. He wants to ensure the players are available for all matches, unlike Cristiano Ronaldo, who is set to miss the next two matches for Portugal, and said (via Mirror):

"It is important, I'm aware of it and we will talk about it. No red cards please. If we have a doubt then, because we are through and we are in a position with last man then the player holds the shirt he gets the red card. If there's a doubt then it would be smarter not to do it. If he goes in the last man example and if we can avoid it no red card of course but I don't want to make it too big a subject because then you have a cloud above you. But if you have the choice: don't do it."

Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Portugal's final FIFA World Cup qualifier against Armenia. The UEFA Nations League winners need to get a win or a draw to ensure direct qualification to next summer's tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo was unlucky to get sent off, says Portugal manager

Portugal manager Roberto Martinez spoke to the media after the 2-0 loss to Ireland, saying that Cristiano Ronaldo was unlucky to get sent off. He claimed that the VAR did not see the right angles of the incident, and said (via Ojogo):

"Of course, we did. I think it's difficult for a player like Cristiano, who is in the box. And today he had two defenders always with physical contact. There is no violence. He tries to remove the defender and it was unlucky that the VAR consideration... The angle of the images [makes it seem] worse than what happened. It's Ronaldo's first red card in the national team, it's incredible."

Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal were 2-0 down to Ireland last week when the Al-Nassr superstar was sent off for elbowing Dara O'Shea inside the box. The off-the-ball incident was spotted by the referee, who issued a yellow card, before VAR sent him to the monitor and upgraded it to a red card.

Edited by Sripad