Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has admitted that he "would be angry" if he had been named on the bench, as he defended Cristiano Ronaldo following the 37-year-old's omission from Portugal's starting XI that beat Switzerland on Tuesday night.
Fernando Santos made the shock decision to drop Ronaldo and hand Goncalo Ramos, the 21-year-old Benfica striker, his first international start. Ramos scored the first hat-trick of the World Cup - ultimately vindicating Santos' decision.
Ronaldo was eventually introduced in the 73rd minute after audible chants of the veteran's name rang around the Lusail Stadium. The former United man did have the ball in the back of the net shortly after coming on, but his strike was quickly ruled out for offside.
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After the match, Fernandes was asked for his thoughts on Ronaldo being upset at Santos' decision to drop him. "Do you think anyone likes to be on the bench?” Fernandes said. "I don’t think Cristiano would be happy. If the manager put me on the bench in the next game, I would be angry.
"We won the first two games with Cristiano in the first 11, and it could be that if Cristiano played, he could score three goals and no one would be speaking about Cristiano being on the bench. Cristiano is doing his job, he’s doing his part, he’s happy with the result because the goal for everyone is to go as far as possible.
"I don’t think people should be talking about Cristiano and why he’s not playing, because when Cristiano plays and the team wins, no one talks about that. When Cristiano plays and the team loses, everyone talks. [He is] the most famous player in the world. No one is more famous than Cristiano in sports, not in football, in sports."
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