“Leave Cristiano alone, he doesn’t deserve this”

The quarterfinals preview in between Portugal and Morocco came marked by conflict between the coach Fernando Santos and the captain, Cristiano Ronaldo. But the Portuguese coach was very elegant and dotted the i’s to clarify what happened before the game against Switzerland. The coach settled the controversy in a wide-ranging speech in which he asked questions respect for CR7. “Leave Ronaldo alonehe doesn’t deserve it, for everything he has done for Portuguese football,” he asked the press.

The Portuguese coach explained to clarify what happened. “I have one talking to Ronald It would be bad if I didn’t have it.” Against Switzerland, Cristiano did not start and despite the fact that Santos gives the eleven an hour and a half before the games with the striker he made an exception. “It was fair to my part I don’t do it at all, true, but He is the captain of the team with the projection it has, for what it has given to Portuguese football, for what it represents… Naturally, it is deserved.”

Santos explained in sequence how it happened. “It happened on game day, after lunch. I didn’t talk to Ronaldo then, neither on Monday nor on Sunday. This is to explain to him the reasons why he cannot play.”

The coach explained that he didn’t have it at the beginning, but he had it during the game. “I thought the game would be complicated and, in the second half, the entry of Cristiano the fight can be fixed. I explained it without the truth. Cristiano, naturally, is not very happy. He always plays as a starter, except in Spain. Naturally he was not very pleased and said ‘Mister, but do you think…?‘.”

According to Santos, it was a calm conversation where he gave his arguments. “He just didn’t accept them, which is normal, but he never, at any time, told me that he wanted to leave the national team. I think it’s time we set some things straight. Cristiano is stylish to teach.”

And later he praised his captain. “is example he gave in the game. He shouted in the locker room, as usual. He went out with all the players to warm up, he jumped on all the goals with his teammates. There is even a moment where he claps along with João Mário. In the end, so did he He called his teammates to thank the fans, and the only thing they noticed was that he left alone”, he declared, demanding respect for the Portuguese legend.

The conflict with Ronaldo occupied a large part of the press conference, but he also spoke, obviously about Morocco. “It will be a very tough match. Morocco is a very strong teambut they will also have very tough rivals”. On the Atlas lions, he emphasized that “Morocco has four or five players who play for the best teams in the world, and every day they face situations like this”.

Finally, Fernando Santos is not afraid of the environment that may be against him this Saturday. “In the last game in Morocco, I saw a very intense hobby always shouting and passionate, whistling at the enemy. But my players are tired of having such environments”, he recalled. “You have to deal with it naturally and live what the team can do, improve in some aspects, because the last game is far from perfect”, comments he.