Rodri has apologised to Bernardo Silva after the Manchester City legends clashed during Spain’s win over Portugal at the World Cup.
Spain booked their place in the quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over Portugal thanks to a late goal from Arsenal’s Mikel Merino.
It was not a classic by any means, but the European champions progress to take on Belgium in the last eight.
There was a chance for late drama when Bernardo Silva had a chance with a header, but his effort sailed over the crossbar and he fell to the ground in disappointment.
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The midfielder was surprised to see a familiar face above him as he lay on the pitch, with now former Manchester City teammate Rodri celebrating his miss.
Rodi pumped his fist and screamed in Silva’s face, causing the Portugal star to jump up and confront the Spaniard, who seemed to quickly try and defuse the situation.
The Ballon d’Or winner has since revealed that he apologised for his actions and has reiterated that apology to his former teammate.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Rodri said: ‘I’ve said this before, I made a mistake because I celebrated when he had failed.
‘I apologised to him immediately, but that’s where it stands because of the trust we have, and that’s it.’
Portugal’s performance has come in for stiff criticism from one of their former players as Ricardo Quaresma accusing the players of ‘strolling around’ in defeat.
‘Everyone was saying this team was the best in Portugal’s history, but in what sense? What have they won?’ Quaresma said on LiveMode.’We’re going home with our heads down.
‘In midfield, we have great players, a lot of talent, but they’ve been very, very weak in this World Cup. The same thing happened with the attack, and the defense was disoriented. It’s best if I leave it at that, because otherwise, I’ll say things I’ll later regret.
‘It didn’t work from start to finish. Everything went wrong. Today we handed the game to Spain: they did whatever they wanted. We were just strolling around, we were slow, we didn’t feel like doing anything.’
The former Barcelona, Inter and Porto star added: ‘This team should have performed much better. You have world-class players and enough quality to beat Spain.
‘What I saw today was too many back passes and wide passes, too much possession without trying to break their lines or even shoot. Apart from Nuno’s chance and the header in the final minutes, you created almost nothing.
‘Possession alone doesn’t win matches. You have players like Rafael Leão, Pedro Neto, and Francisco who can beat defenders one-on-one. You have to make better use of those qualities.’
Cristiano Ronaldo played the whole game and was roundly mocked by Chris Sutton, co-commentating on the game for BBC 5 Live, who said: ‘He’s waddling around the field like a granddad. Honestly, that’s why Portugal are out.
‘There’s a lot of them probably walking off the pitch now thinking, “Ronaldo you’ve killed us in this tournament. You’re the reason we’ve gone out, you’re the reason we’ve struggled in the final third”.’
However, he blamed manager Roberto Martinez more than the veteran striker, saying: ‘This is all on the manager. How can Goncalo Ramos come off the bench and score the winner against Croatia and not actually get a minute.
‘What is Roberto Martinez doing? How can you pander? His job was to try and win the World Cup and put the best team out for Portugal. Has he done that? Absolutely not.
‘It’s scandalous the way he has managed this team.’