Manchester City stars Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva suffered defeat with Portugal against Ireland on Thursday night
Manchester City stars Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva had to be dragged away from fans after an argument with supporters following Portugal's dismal 2-0 defeat against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday night.
Group F in the UEFA World Cup qualifiers is extremely tight, with five games played. Portugal still top the standings, despite the defeat in Dublin, with 10 points to their name.
However, Hungary are right behind them on eight, closely followed by a buoyed Ireland side on seven points. Roberto Martinez's men face bottom-of-the-group Armenia on Sunday as they hope to qualify for next summer's World Cup automatically. However, should they lose to Armenia and Hungary beat Ireland, they will be forced to go through the play-offs.
Portugal could have wrapped up their qualification at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday, but Troy Parrott gave the hosts a comfortable two-goal lead in the first half before Cristiano Ronaldo was shown a straight red card in the second for an apparent elbow on Ireland defender Nathan Collins.
After the full-time whistle, in a clip shared by Portuguese outlet Record, Dias and Silva can be seen engaging in a heated exchange with supporters in the away end.
The pair appeared the most agitated as former Chelsea star Joao Felix attempted to hold the latter back before Silva freed himself to confront someone in the crowd.
This came after Dias appeared to clash with the same supporter and, in another angle shared by CNN Portugal, Silva can be seen storming away as his team-mates attempt to diffuse the situation before making their way off the pitch themselves.
Dias and Silva have been key players for Man City and Pep Guardiola this season, each starting the majority of Premier League games so far. Both lined up in the 3-0 thumping of Liverpool prior to the international break, which put City within three points of league leaders Arsenal.
Later this month, Guardiola's side return to action with a tricky away test at Newcastle United in the league before they host Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League a few days later. City are currently fourth in the league phase standings of the European competition with 10 points, having won three and drawn one of their four games so far.
---
Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.
And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.

3 hours ago
36








English (US) ·