THE BALL – «Martínez? As long as Portugal wins and Ronaldo is not humiliated…» (FPF)
After harsh criticism of the former national senior men’s football team in Portugal, Fernando Santos, last week, the president of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, did not want, this Monday, to enter into major considerations about the choice from the Portuguese Football Federation to the Spaniard Roberto Martinez to command the corner team.
In Funchal, on this day, Miguel Albuquerque left, however, a caveat in the credit given to the 49-year-old Spanish coach, former coach of Belgium. «As long as Portugal wins and Cristiano Ronaldo is not humiliated, I am satisfied», said the leader of the Regional Executive of the archipelago.
The highest Madeiran ruler reiterated, however, the criticism of the president of Roberto Martínez in office.
«Fernando Santos tried to humiliate the greatest player ever in the history of Portugal. The best known Portuguese in the world, who is known in China, in India… is Ronaldo, who is from Madeira and was the man who did the most for Portuguese football! No one in China or India knows who the Prime Minister or President of the Republic is, but everyone knows that it is Ronaldo », he recalled.
«He was the man who gave the most projection to Madeira and Portugal! And that idea of putting the best player in the world on the bench, just to humiliate him, doesn’t fit in anyone’s head», said Miguel Albuquerque on the sidelines of yet another public event, in Madeira.