Ronaldo offended? We didn’t talk after the World Cup. He didn’t understand why he was on the bench in the quarterfinals. I’d do it again, says former Portugal coach

Cristiano Ronaldo is now shining in Saudi Arabia, however, it wasn’t that long ago that he was struggling not only during his Manchester United engagement but also at the World Cup in Qatar. It was during the World Cup that his relationship with now former Portugal national team coach Fernando Santos went wrong.

His return to Old Trafford did not go as planned. Although Cristiano Ronaldo had a solid first season after his comeback, the second one was all wrong from the start. Apparently, there was a dispute with coach Erik ten Hague, he was filling the role of a substitute and his ego wasn’t taking it well.

The world championship in Qatar was approaching and the Portuguese wanted to be in the best possible shape. But the fact was that the Red Devils were playing just fine without him at that moment. Then, when he didn’t celebrate his team’s win, which he had no part in, it became a big media scandal.

In fact, Ronaldo went to the booths at the time and overshadowed a great performance by Manchester United. Before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, he gave a very controversial interview to Piers Morgan and his contract with England’s most successful team was terminated.

When the World Cup finally started, Portugal could have been one of the dark horses. However, there was much debate about whether Ronaldo still had something to give the team. And in the state he was in at the time. And he really didn’t shine.

Coach Fernando Santos had to make a difficult choice for which he was heavily criticised. And in his words, even Ronaldo himself has not forgiven him to this day.

Ronaldo has not spoken to Santos since the World Cup in Qatar

It is now no secret that Argentina won the World Cup, led by the magnificent performances of Lionel Messi, who won a record eighth Ballon d’Or last season.

Portugal only made it to the quarter-finals, where they surprisingly fell to Morocco. Cristiano Ronaldo did not perform ideally at the tournament. He scored the only goal in the first match against Ghana, after that he was more or less invisible and in the match against South Korea he was downright detrimental when he helped his opponent to score.

Ronaldo didn’t play the whole game either. On the contrary, his minutes have steadily decreased. And in the knockout phase, he was never in the starting line-up again. Against both Switzerland and Morocco, he was only a joker. And it can’t be said that he could carry it off like a professional.

“I would make the same decision now. It was a strategic decision. I have to think about the team first and foremost. I thought it was the best decision. I discussed it with my implementation team, it wasn’t easy. Also because of personal problems, friendships and so on. The decision had a lot of weight,” said Fernando Santos, Portugal’s coach at the time, according to Marca.

Santos still believed in Ronaldo: “We all believed we could be world champions. If we had beaten Morocco, maybe Cristiano would have started the next game against France in the starting line-up. He was going through the worst possible period at the time. He didn’t have game practice, we tried to give him that in the first games.”

“When I called him in the morning to tell him he wouldn’t play in the starting line-up, he misinterpreted the decision. One day we will hopefully look at each other and say we have a good relationship,” added the Portuguese coach, who said he has not spoken to Ronaldo since the end of the championship.

Source: Marca, Transfermarkt, FIFA