Portugal coach furious with Ronaldo on eve of match against Switzerland
Portugal faces Switzerland today in the round of 16 of the football world cup and once again Cristiano Ronaldo is in the middle of a controversy now generated by the comments he made on the field when he was substituted in the defeat against South Korea in the last game of the phase of groups.
If at the start of the championship, attention was focused on the dispute between CR7 and the Manchester United coach, Erik ten Hag, who he accused of not being official and that for that reason he had no respect for the coach and the club’s directors, now the situation it seems to be more of a strike with the coach of the national team of Portugal Fernando Santos saying that he “didn’t really like anything” of Ronaldo’s statements when he replaced him
Santos said yesterday at a press conference that when Ronaldo was substituted he had not heard what the player said but that he later saw the footage and heard what the player said.
“Have I seen the images? Already. Liked? Anything. I really didn’t like it at all”, said Fernando Santos.
Cristiano Ronaldo said when he was substituted that Santos “is under a lot of pressure to replace me” accompanying the sentence with two expressions too rude to be published.
Fernando Santos said, however, that he subsequently had issues with CR7 and the team.
“But from then on, these matters are resolved at home and from there it’s time to think about tomorrow’s game, for which everyone is focused”, said the Portugal coach who, however, was confused to say if CR7 – which the critics say having played very poorly before being substituted – will be in today’s starting XI against Switzerland.
“I only announce the team to the players at the stadium, it has always been like this since I arrived”, he said, adding however that Ronaldo is available
“The matter is closed, solve it at home and everyone is available”, he added.
Fernando Santos said that he had not discussed with Ronaldo the news that he will join the Al Nasr team in Saudi Arabia with a contract of 200 million dollars a year for two seasons.
The controversy arose at the start of Portugal’s campaign in Qatar and at the time the Portuguese team players had to repeatedly answer questions about whether the controversy was affecting the work of the Portuguese team, something they denied.