FIFA let Ronaldo off the hook last November, Martinez should have given him the hook on Wednesday

Suspended suspension did Portugal and their manager no favours at all

You’ll remember well the night an Ireland fan told Cristiano Ronaldo to cry his eyes out live on RTE as the Portuguese legend made his way to the Aviva Stadium dressing room after the first red card of his international career last November.

Ronaldo, then just 40 and playing in his 225th game for his country, was sent-off for an elbow into the back of Dara O’Shea in a game when Troy Parrott announced his intentions to come with both the goals in a brilliant 2-0 win for Ireland.

Little went right for Ronaldo and Portugal that night, Roberto Martinez’s side stung by the aggressive front foot approach from an Irish team in the World Cup’s last chance saloon.

And things went from bad to worse when Ronaldo saw red in the 59th minute as his side struggled to counteract those two first-half goals from the Troy wonder.

Many observers that night felt the referee did Martinez a favour when he sent a disbelieving Ronaldo for an early bath and the RTE cameras caught one fan mimicking the great one crying his eyes out.

A red card of that nature carries a three game suspension and sure enough, Ronaldo sat out the next match when Portugal confirmed World Cup qualification with a 9-1 hammering of Armenia and a display of quite brilliant attacking football - without their talisman.

Therein lies the clue. As the world awaited a three match ban for Ronaldo so FIFA took the laws of the game into their own hands, not the first time they have bent the rules to protect big stars and, more importantly I suspect, commercial opportunities.

Thus they took us all by surprise (sort of) on November 25th when they announced that Ronaldo would serve a three match ban but the final two games of the suspension would be suspended for a year, freeing him up to play in the United States.

It was quite a preposterous decision, based apparently on the fact that he had never been sent off previously in any of his 224 international appearances before Dublin.

Here’s what the Fifa statement said: “If Cristiano Ronaldo commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension set out in the disciplinary decision shall be deemed automatically revoked and the remaining two matches must be served immediately.”

We were amazed at that statement but Roberto Martinez must have been disgusted. Throughout his time with Portugal, which will end after this tournament, Martinez has never shown any inclination to take a hard line with Ronaldo and drop him from the team or the squad.

He’s been slow to take him off in games as well although, to be fair, Ronaldo can turn it on in an instant as Stephen Kenny fans will tell you.

There was never any suggestion on Wednesday night that Ronaldo would turn it on, never mind turn the game around for Portugal yet he was still on the pitch at the final whistle, trudging down the tunnel with barely a glance at his team-mates or their opponents never mind a hand shake.

That reaction and his poor performance has prompted another debate on Ronaldo’s role as a World Cup untouchable.

Tony Cascarino, live on Talksport, even claimed Martinez is afraid to leave Ronaldo out of a game yet alone his team.

Cas would know what it feels like when a manager makes a hard World Cup decision by the way. He made way for Niall Quinn for the 1990 game against Holland and Niall scored the goal that sent Jack Charlton’s team into the second phase and justified the decision to drop him. So his opinion counts here.

And we all have to wonder what disservice FIFA did to Martinez now when they suspended the Ronaldo suspension for a year. They did warn that any misdemeanour would see the full suspension reimposed with immediate effect - does being crap count as a misdemeanour?

It should when you’re old and past it, even if your name is Ronaldo. Martinez must be glad it won’t be his problem anymore when this World Cup ends.