A known flopper. Even the English announcer called him a baby and a faker who was being equally physical with Ronaldo. It should not have even been a foul.

Ronaldo for grabbing around the neck and the defender for flopping/embellishing.

It is not unreasonable.

That crap drives me crazy, too, and if they'd simply just enforce the laws that are in place it wouldn't be necessary. It was away from the ball (and apparently during a stoppage), neck and head contact, and unnecessary.

If he had applied any real force to it, then it immediately goes to a sending off instead of a caution. That changed in 2016.

as you know far more about it than I do given your experience as an official.

I am not one to blindly defend Cristiano as many of his problems are self inflicted but I do believe the nature of the contact, even though it was unnecessary and above the shoulder, was part of the physical nature of the game on set pieces. My other issue is the complete inconsistency on how it is called which you pointed out. I have seen much more physical play go completely unchecked by officials. That is rank.