Iran coach Queiroz blasts VAR

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo was fortunate to escape a red card despite a VAR review following an elbow in Monday's 1-1 draw at the World Cup.

Portugal will face Uruguay in the last 16 after advancing as runners-up of Group B, but Queiroz insisted Ronaldo deserved to be sent off for catching Iran defender Morteza Pouraliganji with an elbow to the face.

"I don't want to talk too much, it's about my country and a player. I know it'll be a war against me," said Queiroz, who coached his native Portugal at the 2010 World Cup.

"But the reality is, you stopped the game for VAR, there is an elbow. An elbow is a red card in the rules. In the rules, it doesn't say if it is (Lionel) Messi or Ronaldo..."

It was a busy evening for the video assistant referee in Saransk as two penalties were awarded upon review, on top of the Ronaldo altercation.

"We accepted human mistakes before, that was part of the game. Players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes and referees make mistakes," said Queiroz.

"But now you have one system that cost a fortune. It's high-tech with five, six people inside and what happens? Nobody takes responsibilities.

"We need to be like rugby. When there is a decision by VAR I need to know what the referee is saying to them, people need to know what is going on."

"So in my opinion, Mr Infantino and FIFA, everybody agreed that VAR is not going well," he added.

"That's the reality, there's a lot of complaints."

Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure after failing to add to his four-goal tally at the Mordovia Arena, suffering the same penalty misfortune as Lionel Messi earlier in the competition.

"I understand, it's normal. The best players in the world face that when there isn't an opportunity to really make it happen," said Portugal boss Fernando Santos.

"That hurts a lot more to them than to other players. They always want to win. They want to be the best and refuse to fail, and when they fail they get very upset."