Twitter reacts as Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Portugal team ends in a draw against Ukraine

Cristiano Ronaldo's return to the Portugal national could not inspire the team to a win as the defending champions were held to a draw by Ukraine in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier.

As is the case with Lionel Messi, Ronaldo missed six international games after Portugal crashed out of the FIFA World Cup in Russia last summer.

The Juventus star was denied twice by Ukraine shot stopper Andriy Pyatov in a game that saw Portugal dominating with 18 shots compared to their opponents' two.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos, however, refuses to focus on the sole performance of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner during the game, maintaining that it is the performance of the team as a whole that matters.

Speaking in a post-match conference, he said. "t is not the solution not to be in Cristiano's head – with Cristiano or without Cristiano. What matters is Portugal and Portugal didn't win. The players are not satisfied."

"They obviously have big experience as they play in big clubs, but they are dissatisfied, which is obviously normal. But now we have to think about the next game. And even with Cristiano or without Cristiano. This isn't the point."

"We have to think about the collective moment of the team and don't focus on the question of having or not having Cristiano to play."

Meanwhile, Messi, who also made his return to the Argentina national team on Friday, faced a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Venezuela.

Portugal are next scheduled to face Serbia on Monday and will hope to make up for the disappointing showing last night. Should the team miss out on the top two in Group B, they are still guaranteed a play-off spot courtesy of their reaching the Nations League semi-finals.

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Fans have since taken to Twitter to react to the result

Ronaldo when a Portuguese team mate is open for a simple pass pic.twitter.com/5aVnUrfq1o

— ㅤalex 🇵🇹 (@J0A0FELIX) March 22, 2019

Lionel Messi is carrying his national team on his back but he’s the worst player for his country according to twitter pundits and Ronaldo being carried by his national team makes him the greatest player of all time for his country. I honestly love this application.

— madan (@EnjoyArthur) March 22, 2019

Ronaldo when playing with Portugal pic.twitter.com/WTOQlLsqEz

— Nãif ➰ (@NaifFCB_) March 22, 2019

Portugal breezing to the Nations Cup final without Ronaldo but fail to beat Ukraine with him: pic.twitter.com/V3iqacHwjd

— José (@josepintoj) March 22, 2019

Argentina 🇦🇷 played a friendly match against Venezuela 🇻🇪 and lost, haters are calling for Messi's head.Portugal 🇵🇹 played a qualifier match and drew, no one is talking about Ronaldo.Abeg, between friendly and qualifier, which is more important???

— Barca Ass. Class Captain (@jaj_genius) March 22, 2019

Ronaldo yet again dropping a 0/10 performance but nobody will talk about it because he isn’t Messi. pic.twitter.com/QFmD7jV7qi

— . (@FCBMagician) March 22, 2019

Unpopular Opinion:Cristiano Ronaldo is overrated when it comes to international football. Eder + new group stage format is the reason why they won the Euros 2016. pic.twitter.com/63EM5rpWvy

— . (@FCBMagician) March 22, 2019

Haven't bet I ages and the only 2 teams letting me down are Argentina and Portugal.. messi and ronaldo are shit

— JJacker (@BigmanBigfan) March 22, 2019

Ronaldo when a Portuguese team mate is open for a simple pass pic.twitter.com/5aVnUrfq1o

— ㅤalex 🇵🇹 (@J0A0FELIX) March 22, 2019