Qatar 2022: Ahead Morocco game, Portugal coach ‘It’s time to leave Ronaldo alone’

Portugal coach Fernando Santos has called on the Portuguese media to “leave Cristiano Ronaldo alone”, rebutting reports that the superstar striker had threatened to walk out of the World Cup after being dropped.

Ronaldo is highly unlikely to start in their quarter-final against Morocco on Saturday but he continued to dominate discussions, to the frustration of Santos who sought to knock down suggestions of a rift with the squad captain by disclosing the pair’s discussions before the comfortable round-of-16 victory over Switzerland.

Santos revealed that he had taken Ronaldo aside on the day of the Switzerland game to break the news that he had been axed from the national team after almost two decades as a talismanic presence.

“The conversation needed to happen,” Santos said. “I don’t do that with all our players but he is the captain of our squad. For what he represents for Portuguese football, for the Portuguese people and the national team, naturally I needed to talk to him.

“I will tell you the details. It was on the match day after lunch. Not before that, not on Sunday or Monday. The only conversation was on the day of the game and I explained why he would not be one of the starters so he would not be surprised [later]. I invited him to my office. I told him that for strategy, it’s better not to start but I would save him for the second half if necessary.

 “Cristiano, for obvious reasons, was not very happy because he has always been a starting player apart from one or two games. He was not happy. He asked me, ‘Do you really think this is a good idea?’ But we had a normal conversation in which I explained my view, he accepted. He has never told me that he wanted to leave the national team. It is time we stopped with the polemics.”

Complaining that “90 per cent of questions” are about Ronaldo, and with clear tensions with some of the Portuguese media, Santos insisted that his captain had been supportive of the team, which thrashed Switzerland 6-1 with the promoted striker, Gonçalo Ramos, scoring a remarkable hat-trick.

 “An example of what I have just said is what he [Ronaldo] did in the match,” Santos said. “He was the one who started warming up with all the players even if he knew he was not starting, he celebrated all the goals that we scored, you could see him clapping his hands. He invited all his team-mates to thank the fans so I think it is high time for you to leave Ronaldo alone in acknowledgement for what he did for Portuguese football.”

Such has been the focus on Ronaldo that João Félix had to deny that younger players in the team had felt a pressure to pass to their captain. “I don’t feel it is mandatory to pass Cristiano the ball,” Félix insisted. “We try to pass to the best available.”

Santos declined to say if the team against Morocco would be the same starting XI that beat Switzerland, but it would be bizarre if he switched a forward line that was so effective. He did, though, predict a different type of game against very compact opponents who have conceded only one goal — an own goal — in this World Cup.

“Four scored, one conceded — no team has that average,” Santos said. “It’s an extremely organised team with players at some of the best clubs in the world: Chelsea, PSG, Bayern. If you watch their game against Spain or Croatia you will see the quality they have. They play in a very small area of the field.”

Morocco have injury concerns over Nayef Aguerd and Romain Saïss in defence, and the impressive Sofyan Amrabat, but Walid Regragui, the coach, said he would not seek excuses if any of those key players failed to make the line-up.

Regragui acknowledged Portugal as favourites but pointed to the victories already achieved by his players. “We have surprised a few people and some algorithms, all this data, possession, Harvard calculations,” he said. “They all thought they knew who would win but they need to know our players are hungry.

 “We know the message we send out is important, the opportunity to unite the Moroccan people. But it is not enough. We have made people happy, we have made people proud but I have said to the players that we are here to go as far as we can.”

Inevitably he, too, was asked about Ronaldo. “As a coach I hope he won’t play because I know he is one of the best players in history,” he said.