Some players shrink when they’re targeted by opposition fans – but Cristiano Ronaldo certainly isn’t one of them.
From a young age, the Portuguese superstar has used the hostility from away crowds to his advantage.
He grows in confidence, if anything, taking strength from the boos. And, more often than not, he ends up having the last laugh.
The same thing happened on Saturday night when Portugal travelled to Serbia for their latest Euro 2020 qualifier.
Ronaldo’s every touch was greeted with chants of “Messi, Messi!” from the home supporters.
This was, of course, a deliberate attempt to rile Ronaldo in the hope it would make him play badly.
But the outcome was inevitable.
Ronaldo ended up scoring the goal that made it 3-1 with a fine finish in the 80th minute.
The 34-year-old latched on to Bernardo Silva’s pass before dinking the ball past Serbia’s goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovi?.
Ronaldo then brought out his ‘Siii’ celebration, silencing the Serbian fans once and for all.
How many more times does Ronaldo need to prove to opposition fans that taunting him simply doesn’t work?
William Carvalho opened the scoring for the Euro 2016 champions on the stroke of half-time before Goncalo Guedes made it 2-0 just before the hour-mark.
Nikola Milenkovic pulled a goal back for the hosts in the 68th minute but Ronaldo went on to restore Portugal’s two-goal advantage.
Aleksandar Mitrovic made the final five minutes interesting by making it 3-2 but Silva killed the game off with a fine finish shortly afterwards.
This was a hugely important three points for Portugal, who drew their opening Group B qualifiers with Ukraine and Serbia.
They now find themselves second in the Group, eight points behind Ukraine, who have played two more games.
