Cristiano Ronaldo respected my decision to bench him in World Cup – Ex-Portugal coach, Santos
Former Portugal head coach, Fernando Santos has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo did not see any problem in being dropped to the bench at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
DAILY POST reports that the last World Cup tournament in 2022 was not the best one for the football icon.
In the last two matches of the competition, the then 37-year-old was used as a substitute.
Santos had previously admitted that benching the superstar against Switzerland in the Round of 16 was due to the ‘angry’ reaction portrayed by the former Manchester United star after taking him off against South Korea.
Santos decided to play Goncalo Ramos up front in place of the legendary goal scorer in the last 16 and the youngster went on to score a hat-trick, which helped Portugal secure a 6-1 win over the Swiss.
As a result, Ramos started against Morocco in the quarter-final too.
Santos has now revealed that Ronaldo was at home with his decision to leave the star forward out of the playing XI.
The 70-year-old told Egyptian Channel 1 via O Jogo: “Cristiano Ronaldo is a great player and my relationship with him has been good since 2004, before I coached the national team.
“Ronaldo sitting on the bench when I was Portugal coach was a vision that Cristiano respected and we still communicate.”
Ronaldo managed to score only one goal in the entire group stage of the 2022 World Cup
Before the start of the tournament, the iconic footballer left Manchester United after a controversial interview with Piers Morgan where he slammed Erik ten Hag, the club hierarchy and even some of his teammates.
Cristiano Ronaldo respected my decision to bench him in World Cup – Ex-Portugal coach, Santos
