Ronaldo's milestone goal was gift from referee, says Ghana coach

Ghana coach Otto Addo complained bitterly about the officiating in his side’s 3-2 defeat by Portugal in the World Cup on Thursday and said Cristiano Ronaldo's history-making goal was a gift from the referee.

Ronaldo won, and then converted, a 65th minute penalty to hand Portugal the lead - and become the first man to score at five World Cups - as they went onto win their Group H game.

However, Addo felt the American referee Ismail Elfath had made the wrong call.

“I think it was a really wrong decision, we were playing the ball … I don’t know why VAR did not come up, there was no explanation for it,” said Addo about a soft penalty award after Ronaldo went down following minimal shoulder-to-shoulder contact with Mohammed Salisu.

“It was a wrong decision. It was actually a foul against us,” Addo complained.