Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo criticised Iceland’s “small mentality” and lack of ambition after the two sides played out a 1-1 draw in their opening Euro 2016 Group F match.
Birkir Bjarnason’s volley earned Iceland a point after Nani opened the scoring in Saint-Etienne.
But Real Madrid forward Ronaldo said Iceland deserved nothing from the game.
“I thought they’d won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end, it was unbelievable,” he said.
“It was a little bit frustrating. We tried hard to win the game and Iceland didn’t try anything.
“They scored a goal, they created two chances in the 90 minutes, and otherwise they got every player behind the ball. They put the bus in the net.”
Ronaldo was making his 127th appearance for Portugal, equalling the record set by Luis Figo.
The 31-year-old said it had been a “lucky night” for Iceland, who are appearing in their first major tournament and, with a population of 330,000, are the smallest nation to play at a European Championship finals.
Portugal had 72% of the possession, and 26 shots on goal to Iceland’s four.
“Portugal try to play football and try to win the game,” said Ronaldo. “Iceland didn’t try anything – they were just defend, defend, defend and playing on the counter-attack.
“When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition.”
Source: BBC NEWS
