A visibly upset looking Ronaldo was seen first throwing his armband to the ground before then picking it up and then dropping it again as he made his way to the tunnel where he then kicked the armband in frustration at the loss.

A member of the squad is seen picking up the armband and trying to hand it back to the Juventus player with Ronaldo then refusing to take it back.

Ronaldo has not spoken of the incident but coach Fernando Santos sang his praises after the match. When speaking to press he said: “Ronaldo scored five goals in the tournament. He didn’t score today but he was a true captain in every sense of the word.

“He tried to turn the game around. There’s no issue with Ronaldo.”

Santos then spoke of his disappointment in the result: “There are players crying in the changing room. They gave everything,” he said.

“Belgium had six shots, we had 29. Sincerely I don’t have many words.

“We believed if we won this one, we would have gone on to win the next one.

“They scored, we didn’t. It’s football.”