Former Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure on the Portugal bench as Fernando Santos' side went 1-0 down to Morocco in their World Cup quarter-final clash.
Ronaldo was once again named among the substitutes by Santos after being dropped to the bench for the 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland in the Round of 16. His replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored a hat-trick in the last round and started ahead of the 37-year-old against the African side.
However, Portugal got off to a poor start against Morocco and went 1-0 down shortly before the half-time break. Goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who had been in impressive form throughout the tournament, made a howler as he attempted to claim a cross - leaving Youssef En-Nesyri to head the ball into an empty goal.
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The shot-stopper's error did not go down well with his teammates, and Ronaldo - watching on from the bench - took a sharp intake of breath as the camera panned to the former United frontman. The 37-year-old free agent looked stunned at his goalkeeper's horrible mistake.
Portugal boss Santos opted to drop Ronaldo for the Switzerland clash following his reaction to being substituted in the group stage defeat to South Korea. The manager revealed that he had spoken to the former Real Madrid star before naming Ramos in the side ahead of him.
"Yes we did have a conversation. It would have been bad if we had not had this conversation," Santos said, explaining the decision he made ahead of the Round of 16 game.
He added: "Since I took the helm of the national team we needed to have a closer relationship with the players. That’s my approach, to have a close relationship with them.
"So, that conversation needed to happen. I don’t do that with all the players. But he’s the captain of our squad. What he represents for Portuguese football, the people and its national team, I naturally needed to talk to him.
"I talked to him after lunch on the match day ahead of the Switzerland game. I did not have any conversation before that. It was the only conversation I had with him on that day and I explained to him why he would not be playing. I explained why he wouldn’t be started. I did it so he wouldn’t be surprised."
Ronaldo came on for Portugal in the second-half against Morocco, replacing Ruben Neves.
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