Cristiano Ronaldo se recusa a responder pergunta de Lionel Messi em momento constrangedor

Cristiano Ronaldo instantly shunned a reporter who asked him a question about long-time rival Lionel Messi.

The Portuguese forward shrugged off days of widespread criticism by firing a superb double in Portugal’s 5-0 win over Uzbekistan.

Cristiano Ronaldo rolled back the years with a superb double against UzbekistanGetty The Portugal star fired back at his critics in the best possible wayGetty

The Al Nassr star opened the scoring with a neat near-post finish after six minutes before keeping his cool to slot home his side’s third, just before half time.

And there was further reason to cheer for the 41-year-old as he became the first ever player to score at six World Cups.

Just 24 hours earlier, Messi made history of his own when he became the World Cup’s all-time leading goalscorer and was duly given his flowers.

And with Ronaldo deservedly receiving his, one reporter attempted to get him onto the subject of his long-time rival.

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Ronaldo spoke with the media after Tuesday’s routine win in Houston and comfortably entertained the glut of questions coming his way from the Spanish-speaking press.

However, one question directed at him contained the name of Lionel Messi. It quickly saw Ronaldo throw his hand up in frustration before turning his body away to take the question of another reporter instead.

His reaction comes after a difficult opening week at the World Cup where he was criticised for his performance in the opening group game 1-1 draw with DR Congo.

In that time, Ronaldo has watched football’s other big guns get off the mark in emphatic fashion.

Messi has notched five in his first two games, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland have scored four times, while Harry Kane and Vincius Junior have two apiece.

But now Ronaldo is off the mark and he gave his detractors a timely reminder of what he can still produce on the big stage.

Messi was in sensational form on Monday night but Ronaldo’s response was emphaticGetty

What was Ronaldo’s response to his critics?

“They said I should retire… but I am here,” the five-time Ballon d’Or winner said after his two-goal exploits.

“The noise from outside is always like this, but we can’t control it. We keep going and we are united.

“I know that whoever works hard, God helps him. It was a tough week, a dark one, it started as if I had retired from football.

“But I held on as I always hold on because I believe in work more than football. It was tough, I have to admit, but we came back.”

The win puts Roberto Martinez’s side provisionally top of Group K ahead of Colombia’s clash with DR Congo in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

And with morale at a high, Martinez heaped praise on his side for blocking out the noise of the past week.

Roberto Martinez praised his side’s mentality after a difficult weekGetty

“In the first game, up to the first goal we showed good intensity, good discipline in terms of our positioning, but after scoring we lost our discipline,” the Spaniard said.

“Today, we started very well, but then we kept our positions, stuck to our plan, and the match was completely different.

“Ronaldo’s movements are the best you can get from a centre-forward in the area and today the ball went in, but he continued to generate chances until the end of the game.

“It was the answer from the locker room. Sometimes you need games like our first one so you can grow. 

“We saw a team with the same attitude and effort, with maturity that enabled them to put the emotion of the first game behind them. I’m happy for them because they deserve this result.”

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