Ronaldo accused of aiming PUNCH at Irish rival before spurning chance to break world goalscoring record by MISSING PENALTY (VIDEO)

Cristiano Ronaldo spurned his first big opportunity to break the all-time international goalscoring record as he missed a first-half penalty against Ireland - but football fans accused him of aiming a PUNCH at a rival beforehand.

New Manchester United signing Ronaldo needed just one more goal on his tally to bypass Iran's Ali Daei and become the all-time top scorer in international football with 110 strikes - and had a chance to do just that a quarter of an hour into Portugal's World Cup Qualifier against the Republic of Ireland at the Estadio Algarve.

But it was a contentious one. Ronaldo's new teammate at Old Trafford, Bruno Fernandes, went down under a challenge from Ireland's Jeff Hendrick in the box and despite those in green-tinted glasses suggesting Fernandes made the most of the challenge, the referee opted to point to the spot after prolonged debate with VAR.

And that's where the fun started. With Ronaldo hovering around the penalty spot in anticipation of etching his name into the history books once again, Irish defender Dara O'Shea attempted a bit of gamesmanship and rolled the ball away from the penalty spot - prompting a furious reaction from Ronaldo as he lashed out at the Irishman with his arm, sending him tumbling to the turf. 

Some claimed Ronaldo had got off lightly, despite the contact appearing minimal (if any). 

Ireland will say that justice was done when 19-year-old Manchester City prospect Gavin Bazunu smartly dove to his left to paw away the spot-kick to the delight of Irish fans and, presumably, the Daei household.

To compound Ronaldo's first-half woes, Ireland took a shock lead in the 45th minute when John Egan glanced a brilliant header into the net from a corner, meaning a turn-up for the books seemed possible as the teams headed in for the break.

However, as the clocked ticked down in the second half Ronaldo came up trumps yet again.

The Portugal skipper powered in a header in the 89th to break the all-time scoring record and equalize, before repeating the trick deep into injury time to win the match and move onto 111 international goals.