Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo thought that he had scored the winner in his team's clash against Serbia in the ongoing FIFA World Cup qualifiers. However, the referee decided that the ball was cleared before it crossed the line, causing the Juventus forward to storm off the pitch in frustration.

What would have been Portugal's winner was denied in stoppage time, forcing the match to end at 2-2 with Portugal and Serbia sharing the spoils.

Ronaldo's team had a strong start, with Diogo Jota scoring the opening goal in the 11th minute. He doubled Portugal's lead with another header on the 36th minute mark before heading into the break with a massive advantage.

However, Serbia fought back in the second half and Aleksandar Mitrovic pulled one back almost as soon as the second half started. They took advantage of the momentum and equalised via Filip Kostic at the hour mark.

Ronaldo's late effort brilliantly outsmarted the hosts' goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic and seemed like it crossed the line before the referee decided not to give it.

The 5-time Ballon d'Or winner was visibly upset as he protested against the call. Unfortunately for him, despite what it looked like in the replay video, no goalline technology or VAR was officially being used for the match.

Ronaldo ended up with a booking for his spirited protests in front of the referee. Even with Serbia being reduced to 10 men after Nikola Milenkovic was sent off in the closing minutes, Portugal could not find the winner that they needed. Ronaldo then stormed off into the tunnel after he was seen throwing his captain's armband on the ground out of disgust.

"There are moments which are tough to digest especially when we feel the entire nation is being punished. We will keep our heads up and move on to the next challenge," Ronaldo said on Instagram.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo failed to add to his tally of 102 international goals Photo: AFP / Marco BERTORELLO