Just weeks after his Manchester United exit was confirmed, Cristiano Ronaldo is causing a stir once again - this time, with Portugal at the World Cup.
The 37-year-old veteran has been dogged by controversy in recent months following the disintegration of his relationship with United. After failing to source a move away in the summer, Ronaldo reacted angrily after being handed a bit-part role by new Old Trafford boss Erik ten Hag and slammed the Dutchman in a scathing, unsanctioned interview with Piers Morgan last month.
Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo's bombshell 90-minute chat proved to be the catalyst for his Manchester United departure. But after causing countless issues during the early months of Ten Hag's premiership, the striker's behaviour has now irked Portugal boss Fernando Santos.
Ronaldo appeared to be less than impressed after being replaced in the 65th minute of Portugal's final match in the World Cup Group stage against South Korea - a match they went on to lose.
The forward was visibly agitated as he left the pitch and reacted by placing his finger to his lips. The scenes in Qatar were strikingly similar to ones witnessed by Manchester United fans over the past 12 months: Ronaldo had a major meltdown after being substituted by interim boss Ralf Rangnick last season and even stormed off after refusing to come off the bench as recently as October.
Ronaldo has since insisted that he was reacting to South Korea striker Cho Gue-sung, who was ushering him off the pitch.
But unsurprisingly, Santos appeared to be less than convinced when he was quizzed on the incident. Speaking in a press conference ahead of Portugal's Round of 16 clash with Switzerland, Santos said: "Have I seen the images? Yes, I didn’t like it, not at all. I didn’t like it. I really didn’t like it. But from that moment onwards everything is finished regarding that issue.
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"These matters are resolved behind closed doors. It’s resolved. Full stop on this matter and now everyone is focused on tomorrow’s match."
Although Ronaldo has insisted his focus is solely on firing his country to glory at the World Cup, speculation over the forward's future has dominated the narrative surrounding Portugal both before and during the tournament in Qatar.
Several reports have claimed that Ronaldo is on the verge of agreeing a mega-bucks deal to move to Saudi Arabia after the tournament, but Santos was reluctant to be drawn into discussing his talisman's future.
"I haven’t spoken to him about this," Santos added when asked about Ronaldo's next move. "We had a conversation with the players but I didn’t even know about this. I just heard about this when I arrived here. That’s his decision, that’s what he has to deal with and we are very focused here on the World Cup and his team, and that we spoke about."
