One thing no one can deny about Cristiano Ronaldo: however much he has achieved in his footballing career, he has not learned much in the way of humility.His response to Iceland's determined, resourceful, endlessly committed performance on Tuesday evening in Saint Etienne redefined the term ungracious. Rude, petulant and surly it did little to gainsay his reputation for oafish narcissism.In fact, accusing his opponents of having a "small mentality" was rather self-revealing: if anyone was being narrow in their outlook it was him.story_article_left1Ronaldo slammed Iceland for proverbially "parking the bus" in front of their goal as the north Atlantic Islanders held Group F favourites Portugal to a 1-1 draw.Real Madrid ace Ronaldo had 10 of Portugal's 24 shots on goal in Saint Etienne, but failed to become the first man to score in four European Championships.He stormed off after the final whistle, clearly frustrated by his own failure in front of goal, while Iceland scored by converting one of only four chances."It was difficult over the 90 minutes, because they scored one goal and that was after they had put every player behind the ball," fumed Ronaldo."They put the bus in the net (parked the bus in front of goal). We tried our best, we created many chances and kept the ball."Iceland didn't try nothing, they just defend, defend, defend, they had two chances and scored a goal, it was a lucky night for them."We're frustrated, they didn't try and play."It's why I think they will do nothing here. In my opinion, it's a small mentality."Not that Ronaldo was wrong to point out that Iceland is a small country.story_article_right2They are the smallest ever to appear at the Euro finals. Which is what made their achievement in not rolling over to a side of Portugal's scale all the more admirable.For a nation of such limited resource, Iceland's performance was expansive, their ambition vast, their spirit gargantuan. Far from small, they were the footballing equivalent of that Icelandic bloke who plays The Mountain in Game of Thrones: epic.They threw themselves into everything, maintaining a defensive discipline that they knew was their only route to securing something from the game. But in carrying out their tactic so admirably, instead of shrinking, they grew in stature.Indeed, Iceland's players did not appear particularly small when they formed themselves into a wall when Ronaldo lined up a last-minute free kick that offered opportunity to win three points for his country.They were certainly big enough to provide ample blockage to his feeble kick. And they did it not once, but twice, after his first effort provoked a handball.Nor did Iceland's goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson look small when Ronaldo directed a header into his chest from Nani's invitation of a cross. But then his header was so lame, Ronnie Corbettsson could have been in the Iceland goal and it would have hit him in the midriff.This was the point about Ronaldo's performance on Tuesday: it wouldn't have required the most gargantuan of responses to keep it in check.story_article_left3While Andres Iniesta, Gareth Bale and Dimitri Payet have all given masterclass demonstrations of how a star player can drive a team effort, Ronaldo was on wretched form. You know he is not enjoying himself when he smiles during a game.This is not a sign of pleasure (when he is doing well his face is an unmoving mask of haughty disdain), rather the smile is an ironic marker that everything is working against him: the referee, the crowd, the size of his opponents.His free kicks at the end were a distillation. Here was the chance directly to affect the result, to prove he is the main man, to rescue his country from embarrassment. And he fluffed it. The best player at the tournament blew his first opportunity to prove it.So afterwards, instead of acknowledging his own failings, he went for the classic diversionary tactic of belittling the opponent.It is a strategy much favoured by his compatriot José Mourinho.The idea is to create an alternative talking point to deflect attention from the real issue. In this case, however, it was about as successful as his free kicks. All it did was flag up the reason why he was so rude and unpleasant: because his own performance stank the place out.- The Daily Telegraph and AFP..