Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘haircut goal’ forced sportsbooks to correct their payouts and bettors were furious

In his prolific, all-time career, Portugal talisman striker Cristiano Ronaldo has usually made it a point to eventually score for his home nation. In 193 international appearances for Portugal, Ronaldo has netted 118 goals — the most of any Men’s player ever. He’s usually as sure of a bet to not only find a way to get a goal but also pepper a goalie with several shots.

That was not the case during Portugal’s 2-0 win over Uruguay in Group H on Monday.

Not only did Ronaldo not get a shot on target during the matchup, he also just barely missed a golden opportunity to score (which would’ve poached a goal from his own teammate Bruno Fernandes).

Look closely, and yes, Ronaldo indeed did not make any contact with the ball. After being initially credited with the score, it was appropriately awarded to Fernandes.

Of course, Ronaldo’s miss/subsequent rescore didn’t end up hurting Portugal, given the eventual win. Plus, he still has the all-time international scoring mark.

It was, however, a disastrous result for bettors. Some sportsbooks naturally had to correct payouts after it was revealed Ronaldo didn’t actually score.

Others were a little more forgiving of the unfortunate circumstance:

In all fairness, could you blame anyone for expecting a guy who essentially scores at least one goal every two international games to score a goal in an international game? If not for a slight miss on precision, Ronaldo would’ve had another one here, and sportsbooks wouldn’t be issuing corrections on payouts to bettors.

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