Fernando Santos clarifies what was said in ‘frank’ conversation with Cristiano Ronaldo after Portugal axe

‘After lunch we met, I explained to him why he was not going to be one of the starters, because I did not want him to be surprised. I invited him into my office and said, “Listen, you are not going to start, I think you’ll be very important but in terms of strategy it’s better for you not to be on the field.”JAMB portal

‘We expected that the game would be more difficult and I wanted to save him for the second half if need be. I spoke to him naturally, as I always do with my players.

‘Cristiano for obvious reasons was not very happy about it, because he has always been the starting player – except for one or two games. Obviously, he was not happy and he told me, “Do you really think it’s a good idea?”

But we had a normal conversation in which I explained my point of view and he accepted that. We had a frank and normal conversation.

‘He has never told me that he wanted to leave our national team and as Joao [Felix] said, I think it’s high time we stopped with this conversation and stopped with the attacks.

‘Ronaldo was the one who started warming up with the players even though he knew he was not going to start, he celebrated all the goals that were scored and at the end, he was the one who invited the players to thank the fans. So I think it’s high time for you to leave Ronaldo alone and acknowledge all he has done for Portuguese football.’

Speaking alongside his manager, Felix had said of the Ronaldo stories: ‘I will not answer that question. I would just like to leave a message to all the Portuguese people, especially the press: Portugal is having a great competition, we have not reached the quarter-finals for a long time, and I think we should all be closer together and not trying to destabilise the environment in the national team.’JAMB Result

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