World Cup qualifiers: Ronaldo fumes as Serbia snatches draw with Portugal

Wins for Netherlands, Russia; Belgium is held to a 1-1 draw by Czech Republic.

Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the contest between Serbia and Portugal at the Rajko Mitic stadium in Belgrade.

Cristiano Ronaldo stormed off the pitch before full-time when he was denied a clear stoppage-time winner in a 2-2 draw in Serbia, while Belgium was held 1-1 by the Czech Republic in World Cup qualifiers on Saturday.

Ronaldo threw off the captain's armband and headed for the tunnel when his effort was cleared by Serbia defender Stefan Mitrovic after it had crossed the line, with Dutch referee Danny Makkelie waving play on. With no VAR in place to review the decision, Serbia held out for a draw having fought its way back into the match from two goals down in Belgrade.

The host looked to be down and out after Diogo Jota scored twice in the first half for Portugal, but Aleksandar Mitrovic reduced the deficit early in the second half to become his country's top scorer with 39 goals in 63 appearances.

ALSO READ - Germany, England, Italy win but Spain held

Filip Kostic made it 2-2 on the hour and the game ended in chaos as Nikola Milenkovic was shown a straight red card for a violent challenge.

The Serbs and Portugal both have four points in Group A, with Luxembourg third on three points after its shock 1-0 over Ireland in Dublin. Gerson Rodrigues's superb goal secured the upset victory that left the Irish bottom of the five-team group behind Azerbaijan.

Watch the curtain raiser of the Sportstar Aces Awards 2021. Sportstar's editor, Ayon Sengupta and members of the jury take us through the selection process, the nominees this year and why this edition of the awards, happening while the country deals with a pandemic, is just that tiny bit more special than the others.

In Group E, Romelu Lukaku cancelled out Lukas Provod's opener to give Belgium a 1-1 draw away to group leader Czech Republic. Belarus beat Estonia 4-2 to move into third place behind the Belgians.

TURKISH DRUBBING

Elsewhere teams continued to shine a light on human rights issues in Qatar.

ALSO READ - St Lucia withdraws from World Cup qualifying

Norwegian and Dutch players wore t-shirts highlighting their desire for change in Qatar, with Denmark saying it will join in the protests when it hosts Moldova on Sunday.

Belgium's Romelu Lukaku (right) celebrates after scoring. - AP

 

Norway's protests did little to help its fortunes on the field as it was on the wrong end of a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Group G leader Turkey.

Ozan Tufan scored twice for Turkey and Caglar Soyuncu added a header to outclass the Norwegians.

Netherlands bounced back from its defeat to the Turks in their opening qualifier by beating Latvia 2-0, with Steven Berghuis and Luuk De Jong getting the goals.

Montenegro beat Gibraltar 4-1 to go second in the group ahead of the Dutch and Norway.

Russia rose to the top of Group H thanks to two first-half goals from Artem Dzyuba in a 2-1 win over second-placed Slovenia while Croatia's Luka Modric won his 135th cap as his side edged a 1-0 win over Cyprus.

Slovakia fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Malta, putting it in fourth place behind the Croats.