Portuguese national coach Fernando Santos left star player Cristiano Ronaldo outside the starting line-up on Tuesday for the eighth final against Switzerland at the World Cup (6-1 win). The attacker was frustrated after his substitution in the group game against South Korea and saw from the bench how his replacement excelled.
Gonçalo Ramos replaced Ronaldo in the duel with the Swiss and did so in no uncertain way. The Benfica striker scored three times in the 6-1 win, while Ronaldo only came on in the final phase. Portugal will face Morocco in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Ronaldo has been at odds with Santos for several days. When he was taken off against South Korea at 1-1 in the 65th minute, he shouted: “You’re in a damn hurry to change me.” That seemed to be aimed at the national coach, although the 37-year-old Portuguese stated after the lost game (2-1) that he was talking to a South Korean player.
Santos later responded to the incident. “I didn’t like to see it. In fact, I didn’t like to see it at all.” Ronaldo recently got into a fight with Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag, which eventually led to his departure from the club.
The national coach spoke to Ronaldo about the incident. “We have solved it internally. We only think about tomorrow’s game”, he only wanted to say about it. “But the Ronaldo issue has been settled.”
