Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has once again been benched by Fernando Santos for Portugal's World Cup quarter-final clash with Morocco. After starting all three of his country's group games, Ronaldo was left out of the starting XI for the last-16 fixture against Switzerland.
Following an incident in Portugal's final group match with South Korea, Santos seemed to explain why Ronaldo was named on the bench against Switzerland, saying, “I’d heard him (Ronaldo) in discussion with Korea’s players. But I didn’t like the other images when I saw them. Not at all. I really didn’t like them. Now, everything has finished. That issue is finished. Full stop."
Santos opted to hand Benfica star Goncalo Ramos his first senior national team start and he certainly did not disappoint as the 21-year-old scored the first hat-trick of the tournament. Portugal eased beyond Switzerland beating them 6-1 to set up a quarter-final match with Morocco.
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Manchester City's Joao Cancelo was also dropped from the starting XI with Manchester United's Diogo Dalot replacing him in the line up.
After the game, Santos praised the response of Ronaldo to being benched, saying, "Cristiano has shown that he is a professional of choice and a captain of a handful. He didn't create any problem, really".
Following their dominating win against Switzerland, Santos has once again chosen to leave Ronaldo on the bench with Ramos starting up front again with the national team coach seemingly not wanting to upset the balance in his team.
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