Should the BBC be mocking Ronaldo’s tears?

Portugal squeezed through to the Euros quarter finals last night after a penalty shoot-out victory against plucky Slovenia. Or perhaps I should say Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal squeezed through, as whatever Roberto Martinez’s team does and however much or little their 39-year-old talisman contributes, the story always seems to be about him.

This time it was a tale of two penalties – one missed in normal time and one scored in the shootout. A flood of tears from Ronaldo followed the former and made it seem as if the living legend was having an on-field breakdown – though he soon recovered. That provoked some cruel mockery from our state broadcaster’s football coverage, or perhaps I should say Gary Lineker’s BBC football coverage, as everything the BBC sports department does seems to be about him. 

The BBC dubbed the Portuguese legend ‘Misstiano’ in their highlight reel and Lineker followed this up by posting a tweaked image of himself from Italia 90 with his erstwhile, and famously lachrymose, teammate Paul Gascoigne replaced by an image of Ronaldo.