The drama surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo and the national team has naturally become the biggest story here in Portugal. It led Wednesday evening’s news broadcasts and made the front page of virtually every major newspaper. For some, Ronaldo was right to walk out on the squad days after spending half an hour warming up against Norway without being brought on in an apparent provocation by Jorge Jesus.
For others, the forward’s behaviour was intolerable and his departure a matter of time, particularly once he found himself face to face with such a strong-minded head coach. Ronaldo has promised to tell his side of the story soon, and Jesus will speak on Thursday night after the Nations League match in Denmark. A confrontation between these two huge personalities had been simmering in the background.
Jesus was inevitably asked in his first press conference with the team in July how his relationship with Ronaldo would work. Jesus, who coached Ronaldo at Al-Nassr, answered categorically. The harmony between coach and player did not last long.
In Portugal, reaction has inevitably split into two camps. In many ways this is a repeat of the debate over Ronaldo’s automatic place in the starting XI at this summer’s World Cup, and Roberto Martínez’s decision to keep the captain on the pitch for the full 90 minutes in all but one of the five matches – despite there being no obvious tactical or physical explanation for it. Even when Ronaldo came off in the last 32 against Croatia, it was not until the 81st minute.
Ronaldo’s fans are firmly behind him, defending him fiercely on social media. Much of the general public, though, feels the player has turned his back on the national team. That was the message splashed in big letters across the front page of O Jogo, one of Portugal’s leading sports newspapers.
Across the Portuguese media, most newspapers and commentators have sided with the view that Ronaldo behaved selfishly. There are, however, some voices – particularly in newspapers and television outlets in which Ronaldo is a shareholder – who have turned their criticism towards Jesus, accusing him of ingratitude and of indefensibly going back on his word. But what actually caused the controversy?
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