Seamus Coleman gives damning evidence of referee favouritism in Portugal loss

This is ridiculous.

Seamus Coleman was back with a bang for Ireland yesterday, proving that it was probably a mistake to leave him out for the last set of qualifiers.

However, the 37-year-old was not handed back his captain's armband, with Nathan Collins staying in the role.

Coleman alluded to this fact when discussing the highly-criticised refereeing performance from Ivan Kruzliak.

The Everton man initially thought that he was not being listened to due to the fact that he was not Ireland's designated leader, but called Kruzliak out for making time for Portugal's Bruno Fernandes.

Speaking with Off the Ball after the game, Coleman said: "I found it difficult to speak to (the referee) all night to be honest.

"That's what I thought (because he wasn't the captain), but he was speaking with Bruno. I challenged him on that, I said 'you'll speak to Bruno but not to me'.

"Listen, I'm sure he was doing his best, but it was frustrating at times for us tonight trying to understand some of the decisions."

Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson also wasn't too pleased with the officiating, saying: "I think he gave them too much respect, in my opinion. Yellow cards, six or seven minutes extra time. I don't know why there was not six or seven minutes of extra time in the first half.

"I don't want to find excuses for anything. I'm not used to talking about the referee, so I'm not going to do that now."