Portugal coach Fernando Santos has leapt to the defence of Cristiano Ronaldo, insisting he will remain the team captain despite storming off the pitch against Serbia.
The Juventus superstar, 36, was left furious after being denied the winner for his side in a 2-2 draw after an error in judgement by referee Danny Makkelie who deemed the ball had not crossed the line.
Ronaldo could face a sanction by FIFA after throwing his captain's armband to the ground and shouting in the linesman's face, but Santos has got behind the forward, insisting he will remain the team's captain.
Portgual have another World Cup Qualifier against Luxembourg tomorrow, and Santos suggested it is likely Ronaldo will feature, and continue to hold the armband.
'It was just a moment of frustration. Cristiano will remain the captain. He is an example for everyone', said Santos after the game.
'If he had offended the coach or his teammates, we would have thought about it, but nothing of this happened.
'He always wants to win, and he was very frustrated. He gives everything to his national team.
'He published a social media post ten minutes after the game, but nobody says it was nice from him.'
With the match finely poised at 2-2 it appeared Ronaldo had secured three vital points when he rounded goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic to score.
Defender Stefan Mitrovic raced to clear on the goal line and hacked the ball away, leaving the officials to declare it had not gone over the line and to continue playing.
Makkelie revealed he apologised to Santos after the game for the error in judgement which denied his side an important victory.
Despite this later revelation, there was no changing Makkeile's mind at the time after being hounded by Portgual's players and staff.
It has yet to be confirmed whether Ronaldo will face a sanction for his outburst, with his actions seemingly breaching Article 11 in FIFA's Disciplinary Code is titled: 'Offensive conduct or violation of the principles of fair play'.
The article says: 'Associations and clubs, as well as their players, officials or any other member or person performing a function on their behalf, must comply with the Laws of the Game, the FIFA Statutes and the regulations, directives, guidelines, circulars and the decisions of FIFA; likewise, they must comply with the principles of fair play, loyalty and integrity.'