Fernando Santos has defended Cristiano Ronaldo and revealed that telling the Portugal superstar he had been dropped from the last 16 showdown with Switzerland was just “a normal conversation”.
Ronaldo was left on the bench for the thrashing of the Swiss, with Benfica’s 21-year-old striker Gonçalo Ramos selected to lead the attack instead.
While much of the pre-match focus was duly about Ronaldo’s absence, the Seleccao duly made light of it, with an inspired Ramos scoring a hat-trick in a 6-1 win. Ronaldo was duly used as a second half substitute, but much has since been made about Santos’ decision. The former Manchester United star was notably the first man off the pitch after the win - having initially guided teammates to applaud supporters - before reports this week suggested that Ronaldo had threatened to leave the squad and the World Cup behind.
Ronaldo himself hit back at those allegations on Thursday, and now Santos has done likewise, defending the veteran hitman and explaining, in detail, how he broke the news to a player with whom he has long had something like a father-son relationship.
“Yes we did have a conversation, and it would be very bad if we didn't have this,” he responded when asked on Friday. “Since I took the helm of the national team we need to talk and have a relationship with players, it's normal, that's my approach, to have a close relationship.
“The conversation needed to happen. He's the captain of our squad, you know what he represents for Portugal football and Portuguese people. Naturally I needed to talk to him.
“When we had this conversation, it was on the matchday after lunch, I didn't have conversation with him before that, not on Sunday or Monday. It was on the day of the game after lunch. We met, I explained to him why he would not be one of the starters, I explained it to him so he would not be surprised.
“I explained to him that it was better for the strategy that he wouldn't start, and that it was better for him to play in the second half. Cristiano was not happy about it. He has always been a starting player. He asked 'do you think it's a good idea?'
“We had a normal conversation and I explained my viewpoints.”
On the subject of Ronaldo’s alleged attempted walkout, Santos continued: “He has never told me that he wanted to leave the team. I think it's high time we stopped this conversation.
“An example of what i just said is what he did in the match. He started warming up with the players, he warmed up with colleagues and celebrated all goals scored.
“At the end he invited colleagues to thank fans. It's high time for you to leave Ronaldo alone for what he has done for Portuguese football.”
