Portugal head coach, Fernando Santos, has said “it’s high time to leave” Cristiano Ronaldo alone.
Santos dropped Ronaldo for his starting XI for their last-16 tie against Switzerland.
His decision paid off, as they won 6-1, with his replacement Goncalo Ramos becoming the first player to score a hat-trick at this year’s World Cup.
But Ronaldo has continued to dominate the headlines in the aftermath of his axing and was forced to deny a report which claimed he had threatened to leave Qatar in an exchange with his head coach.
Santos has sought to clarify the situation with Ronaldo himself ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final against Morocco and leapt to the defence of Portugal’s all-time record scorer.
“I think it’s high time to leave Ronaldo alone, ” said Santos.
“He has never told me that he wanted to leave our national team and I think it’s high time we stopped with this conversation, that we stop with the polemics.”
Explaining how he broke the news that Ronaldo would be dropped, Santos said: “I spoke to him after lunch on the day of the game and invited him into my office.
“For obvious reasons Cristano was not very happy about it as he has always been the starting player. He told me: ‘Do you really think it’s a good idea?’ but we had a normal conversation in which I explained my viewpoints and of course he accepted them.
“We had a frank and normal conversation.”
