Just to remind you, Lombardi was the American Football coach who led Green Bay Packers to five National Football League championships and two Super Bowls during the 1960s, and his most oft-quoted saying was this: “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser”.

Strictly speaking, Ronaldo was not a loser at the Euro 2016 Championships this week, but after he and his Portuguese team-mates, favourites to win Group F, had been held to a 1-1 draw in their opening match by Iceland - well, it clearly felt like they had lost judging by the Real Madrid star’s post-match demeanour and comments.

As any student of the Beautiful Game will know, the current UEFA National Team Coefficient ranking system has Portugal at number four, just behind Germany, Spain and that other side for whom an opening Euro 2016 draw felt more like a defeat, England. And Iceland? They’re down at number 27. Pathetic.

"I thought they'd won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end," said Ronaldo, who appeared to refuse to shake hands with the Iceland players immediately after the game.

"We tried hard to win and Iceland didn't try anything. When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition.”

Just in case anyone should be in doubt about his take on the match against the team making their first appearance in a major tournament - and representing the smallest nation ever to play in these Championships given its population of just 330,000 - he added that it had been a “lucky night” for Iceland, who had parked “the bus in the net".

Is it too late for Iceland to say they are sorry, I wonder?

Perhaps even now a deputation of their players could visit the Portugal training venue, wearing material of light sacking, to proffer their profound regret at what took place in St Etienne on Tuesday night and to assure Ronaldo that he personally will remain in their prayers at least until the end of Euro 2016?

Perhaps the Icelandic Football Association could ask the tournament organisers to award Portugal the two extra points Ronaldo so clearly felt they deserved?

Or, judging by the comments which have subsequently come out of the Icelandic camp, perhaps not.

Iceland midfielder Kari Arnason responded: "It just makes it sweeter that he is a bad loser.

"We are a small island in the Atlantic Ocean and we got a draw against them."

Former Iceland defender Hermann Hreidarsson, who played for Ipswich, Charlton and Portsmouth, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "He didn't fancy it on the day and he just got beaten up. It's petty in a way. He's a sore loser obviously.

"He thought he could have goals handed to him on a plate.

"If he would have worked as hard as every Icelandic player, he wouldn't have had to say anything because I'm sure he would have got his rewards."

Iceland’s coach, Lars Largerback, commented: “Normally when people are disappointed you find a lot of coaches and players start to talk about how the opposite team are playing and I think that is rather unprofessional. If they want to win they have to play better than us. Simple as that.”

Different people greet upsets and disappointment in different ways. Here are three reactions from sportsmen not generally noted for failure. See if you can spot the difference between them and Cristiano Ronaldo in similar situations.

The shock result of the 2015 Rugby World Cup was not, whatever English supporters might insist, the host nation’s defeat by Wales, but the courageous victory earned by the Brave Blossoms, Japan, over twice world champions South Africa, 34-32.

Several Springbok players appeared physically dazed by the result after the final whistle had sounded. South Africa’s Fourie du Preez described the result as the low point of his career, adding: “They celebrated at the end as if they had won the World Cup.”

Not really. This is what he said: “They were probably just better prepared than us, they had a lot of focus areas where they targeted us. They just outsmarted us."

On March 31, 1973, the late lamented Muhammad Ali lost only the second bout of his career to Ken Norton, on a split decision, after a fight in which he had his jaw broken.

“I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right,” said Ali. “That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.”

After Argentina’s 1-0 defeat by Germany after extra time in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final in Brazil, Lionel Messi - whom many observers, including Pele, believe to be the best footballer in the world right now - was unable to raise anything like a smile while collecting the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player.

“Right now, nothing can console me - not the award or anything else,” said Messi. “Our only goal was to take home the World Cup and enjoy our victory with everyone in Argentina. We deserved a bit more after the game we played, and it was very painful to lose that way.”

But before collecting his award, Messi sportingly accepted the commiserations of his opponents, including Bastian Schweinsteiger, who gave him a warm embrace at pitchside. He also took time to congratulate German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had followed him up to receive the Golden Glove award, and posed for the obligatory photos.

Afterwards, following almost an hour in the dressing room, he made time to stop off for a photo with Germany’s match-winning scorer Mario Goetze.

Arnason praised Ronaldo for being a "fantastic footballer" but said he was "not a gracious human being," adding: "His comments are the reason why Messi is always going to be one step ahead of him.”

On previous occasions when what certainly seemed like harsh or arrogant comments by Ronaldo have been reported, he has responded with clarifications or denials.

In a 2013 book by Guillem Balague on the subject of Lionel Messi - aptly enough entitled Messi - it was alleged that Ronaldo regularly mocked his Barcelona rival in the Real Madrid dressing room, and regularly referred to him by an obscene nickname.

Shortly after these reports came out, Ronaldo denied the claims and said on his Facebook page: "I have the utmost respect for all my professional colleagues, and Messi is obviously no exception."

In February this year, after Real had lost to neighbours Atletico, that utmost respect was open to question when Ronaldo appeared to criticise the performance of players brought into a side lacking several key first-teamers such as Gareth Bale, Pepe and Marcelo, and which lost Karim Benzema before the end with a hip injury.

Ronaldo was quoted in the Spanish newspaper Marca as saying: "If we were all at my level, maybe we would be leaders. I don't want to disrespect anyone, but when the best players aren't available it's harder to win. I like to play with Karim, with Bale, with Marcelo.

"I'm not saying the others like Lucas [Vazquez], Jese and [Mateo] Kovacic are not good players - they are very good players - but it's not the same.

"For all you guys it seems I am s***, but I don't listen to what the press say. The statistics and numbers don't lie."

In a later interview with Marca, Ronaldo sought to clarify his comments about his team-mates, saying: "I was referring to the physical level, not level of play. I am not better than any of my team-mates."

Perhaps we can expect a similar review of his latest post-match comments.

“When I said Iceland were celebrating as if they’d won the Euros, I meant that they were paying us a great compliment. And when I referred to their small mentality - well, everyone knows that small is beautiful, and that mighty oaks from little acorns grow…”

Or perhaps not.