World Cup 2022 – Ronaldo benched by Santos: “Coach, do you really think this is a good idea?”

A topic that apparently took up a good part of Fernando Santos’ press conference on Friday. “Leave Ronaldo alone, he doesn’t deserve this, for everything he has done for Portuguese football,” the Portuguese coach asked reporters. But the 68-year-old technician has agreed to return with some transparency to the Portugal-Switzerland forward.

“I had a conversation with Ronaldo, it would have been bad if I hadn’t”, he explained. Santos thus invited his attacker to his office after lunch. “It was just from my side. I don’t do it with everyone, it’s true, but he is the captain of the team, with the radiance he has, for what he gave to Portuguese football, for what he represents… Of course, he deserved that.”

The speech was simple: the former Madrid player would not start, but would be launched during the meeting. “I thought the game would be very complicated and that Cristiano’s entry in the second half could unlock the game.he reasoned. Cristiano was obviously not very happy. He has always played as a starter, except against Spain. It’s normal that he wasn’t very happy and that he said ‘But coach, do you really think this is a good idea?'”

Then, after the time of the summary of the exchange, there was the one for the defense of his player. “He never told me he wanted to leave the national team”he especially assured. “He shouted in the dressing room, as usual. He went out with all the players to warm up, he jumped on all the goals with his teammates. There is even a moment when he claps with João Mário. In the end, he was the one who called his teammates to thank the fans and all they noticed was that he was walking alone.” This is the complexity of the Ronaldo case.