The coach of Portugal, Fernando Santos, defends the star of the national team, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Santos has sought to clarify the situation with Ronaldo himself ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final against Morocco and has come to the defense of Portugal’s all-time goalscorer.
The Portuguese star is going through a difficult moment in his career and not only. He is without a club and is not showing top form at the World Cup.
This has caused him to be on the media page for the situation he is going through.
However, Portugal’s coach, Fernando Santos, has come to Ronaldo’s defense.
“I think it’s time to leave Cristiano alone,” said Santos.
“He never told me that he wanted to leave our national team and I think it’s time to stop with this conversation, to stop with controversy.”
Explaining how he broke the news that Ronaldo would not start against Switzerland, Santos said: “I spoke to him after lunch on the day of the game and invited him to my office.
For obvious reasons, Cristiano was not too happy about this as he has always been the starting player. He said to me, “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” but we had a normal conversation in which I explained my views and of course he accepted them.
We had an honest and normal conversation.”
Portugal will face Morocco in the quarterfinals tomorrow, from 16:00.