Midway through the group stages it looked as if this would be Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup.The 33-year-old, who helped Portugal win the 2016 European Championships, scored a remarkable hat-trick against Spain on day two of the tournament and then netted his fourth goal against Morocco five days later.Ronaldo led the race for the Golden Boot award while his odds of winning a record-breaking sixth Ballon d’Or award shortened dramatically.However, Ronaldo was unable to add to his tally in Portugal’s final group match against Iran, which ended 1-1. The Real Madrid superstar also missed a penalty in that match.Portugal ended up finishing second in Group B after conceding an equalising goal in the third minute of stoppage time and this resulted in them being drawn to face Uruguay in the Round of 16.Ronaldo again failed to find the back of the net as Portugal lost the game 2-1. Pepe scored for the reigning European champions but Edinson Cavani’s brace dumped them out of the tournament.As the clock ticked down to full-time, Ronaldo lost his head with referee César Arturo Ramos and was shown a yellow card.

Graham Poll tears into Ronaldo

However, former referee Graham Poll believes the prolific forward should have seen red for screaming in Ramos’s face after a decision didn’t go Portugal’s way.

Poll, who infamously issued three yellow cards to Croatian Josip Simunic before sending him off at the 2006 World Cup finals, has blasted Ronaldo’s behaviour in his latest column for the Daily Mail.

“Pumped-up and preening Cristiano Ronaldo won't be missed from this excellent World Cup by match officials after his disgraceful display as Portugal exited the tournament,” Poll writes.

“FIFA missed a massive opportunity to stamp some authority by imposing a significant sanction on the world superstar after his outrageous dissent.

“The tournament has been blighted by these scenes of over-the-top reactions to refereeing decisions with scant respect shown to match officials.”

Ouch. Tell us how you really feel about Ronaldo’s conduct, Graham.

Poll calls Ronaldo a 'screaming prima donna'

“I’ve seen the universally recognised obscenity 'Puta' screamed into faces of assistants and numerous referees surrounded by mass dissenters demanding a VAR review or a reversal of a clearly correct decision,” he adds.

“A very enjoyable competition with some very good officiating is in danger of being spoilt by the antics of the players and Saturday evening showed this as Ronaldo's behaviour merely resulted in a yellow card and a subsequent one-match ban as it was his second of the World Cup. He'll miss the Nations League opener against Italy. Big deal.

“If this is to be the last we see of Ronaldo at a World Cup, it does not reflect well on his remarkable talents that this will be the final image.

“FIFA must instruct referees to be stronger in dealing with protests and then impose significant sanctions if the game isn't to be lost to these screaming prima donnas."

Although his words might come across as a little harsh, it’s hard to disagree with him.

Match officials don’t deserve to have obscenities - or anything, for that matter - screamed in their face by footballers.

Ronaldo might be a global superstar but that doesn’t give him the right to abuse referees.

Did Cristiano Ronaldo deserve a red card for this incident? Have your say by leaving a comment below.