After Portugal blew a two-goal lead against Serbia in the World Cup qualifier on Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo was controversially denied an injury-time winner.

Portugal appeared to be cruising to three points in Belgrade when leading 2-0 at the interval through Liverpool winger Diogo Jota’s first-half double.

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However, the half-time introduction of Nemanja Radonjic proved crucial for Serbia as he set up Aleksandar Mitrovic and Filip Kostic to net in the first 15 minutes of the second period.

Portugal had to settle for a 2-2 draw, with Ronaldo left seven short of Iranian Ali Daei’s all-time record of 109 international goals after failing to score for a second straight match.

He appeared to have netted in the 93rd minute, but without VAR or goalline technology in use, officials decided that Serbia defender Stefan Mitrovic had cleared the ball before it crossed the line.

To add insult to injury, Ronaldo was booked for his protests against the decision.

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Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku’s 59th international goal was only enough to salvage Belgium a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic.

Currently, Belgium, the world number one-ranked side, sit behind the Czech Republic on goal difference in the early Group E standings.

The Netherlands saw off Latvia 2-0 after their opening Group G defeat by Turkey, who backed up that performance with an impressive 3-0 victory over Norway.

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In the other Group A game, Luxembourg pulled off a shock 1-0 win over a lacklustre Republic of Ireland side in Dublin.

Russia, World Cup quarter-finalists on home soil three years ago, moved top of the early Group H table with a 2-1 victory over Slovenia, who had started their campaign by beating 2018 runners-up Croatia.