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Iceland defender Kari Arnason has labelled Cristiano Ronaldo a "sore loser" and told him it was "tough s**t" that Portugal were held to a draw.

Birkir Bjarnason’s second-half strike stole side a 1-1 draw in his nation’s first-ever European Championship game - a remarkable feat for a nation of just 330,000 people.

Former Plymouth Argyle and Rotherham United centre-back Arnason successfully shackled Portugal’s skipper, who vented his frustration to reporters after the final whistle.

"Iceland only tried to defend,” complained Ronaldo. “They had two chances and then did not try to score.

"They celebrated like they had won the Euro cup or something. That's a small mentality. That's why they'll do nothing."

Listen to Ronaldo's quotes in full:

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READ MORE: 5 things we learned from the game.

But when those comments were put to Arnason he delighted in having so successfully riled the £300,000-per-week Ronaldo.

(Image: Michael Steele) (Image: Getty)

“It makes it even sweeter when he’s a sore loser like that,” said the 33-year-old defender.

“I mean, he can say whatever he wants. He didn’t really get a chance today, he got one and he couldn’t put it away. What can I say? Sore loser. Tough s**t.”

Ronaldo, 31, struggled to make a big impact on the game and despite having ten efforts on goal he only hit the target once in a frustrating game for the recently-crowned Champions League winner.

(Image: Reuters) (Image: Reuters)

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READ MORE: Ronaldo blasts Iceland's "small mentality".

“He had a header in the final minutes of the game and a chance in the first half but otherwise I thought we had him under control,” Arnason continued.

“We didn’t set up to man mark him or anything, we just had to know where he was at any given moment and that he will shoot from outside the box and that everything has to be blocked.

“He’s a fantastic footballer but he’s not a gracious human being and the thing is we almost nicked the win so him saying we weren’t going for the win contradicts that.

“We got a draw and could have nicked it. Obviously we’re not going to create as much chances as a fantastic team like Portugal but his comments are the reason why Messi is always going to be one step ahead of him.

“It shows we got under his skin. It was lovely to hear that.”

(Image: Reuters) (Image: AFP/Getty)

Eidur Gudjohnsen, another veteran in the Iceland squad, echoed Arnason’s sentiments.

“I don’t really care what Ronaldo has to say,” he said.

“He said we were lucky but you always need luck. Luck doesn’t fall from the sky, you have to earn it.

“Drawing, for us, has been marvellous.”

It was a glorious redemption for Arnason, just seven months after Ronaldo stuck four past him in Malmo’s 8-0 humiliation at the Bernabeu.

While the Swedish champions hadn't been expected to make an impact against the Champions League's eventual winners, Arnason still never thought they would be humiliated in such a fashion.

(Image: Angel Martinez/Real Madrid via Getty) (Image: Denis Doyle/Getty)

“Horrendous... It was embarrassing,” he said.

“It was a terrible game. Playing alongside Ragnar Sigurdsson is a bit different to playing with the boy [Malmo's Felipe Carvalho] I was playing with that night.

“Sometimes when you play with South Americans they complicate things a bit whereas here we know exactly what we’re doing and it feels better.

“It was a poorly set-up game and we gave it to them on a silver platter. We didn’t even make it hard for them.

“We’d played Real Madrid at home before in Sweden and I thought we had him under quite good surveillance, even though he scored two. One was on a counter attack that should never have happened and the other was when one man got sent off and he just buried us.

“We didn’t have the strongest team at the Bernabeu, it doesn’t compare to what we have here. It’s better organisation, much better players and when it’s like that it’s a bit easier.”