When Jorge Jesus replaced Roberto Martínez, the reverse-alchemist of golden generations, as head coach of the Portugal national team, it was thought his appointment could spell the end of Cristiano Ronaldo’s international career. Aged 41 and having selfishly kiboshed his nation’s otherwise excellent chances of winning several recent major tournaments, Ronaldo promptly materialised for the Nations League opener against Wales, vowing to keep holding Portugal back at least until he’d reached the magic number of 1,000 career goals for club and country. Still 21 shy of his tally, Ronaldo failed to put a dent in it during his side’s narrow victory and was an unused substitute in their follow-up win against Norway.
Having previously stated that he would have no objections to being “rested” by Jesus, Ronaldo flounced out of the Parken Stadium before training on the eve of Thursday’s game against Denmark, having apparently spent the previous two days sulking in a hotel gym with only some kettlebells and squat racks for company. In a back catalogue of petulance that includes throwing a hack’s microphone in a lake, throwing former Portugal head coach Carlos Queiroz under a bus and throwing his captain’s armband to the ground in a fit of pique, it remains to be seen where the throwing of this tantrum will rank among Ronaldo’s Hall of Famers while representing his country. While Ronaldo clearly thinks, for now at least, his compatriots can’t handle the truth, he is believed to have left following “clear the air” talks between himself, Jesus and Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença that apparently succeeded only in creating an even denser fog.
During media duties conducted shortly before the hissy fit, Jesus denied any suggestion of a rift between himself and a player he had previously coached at Al-Nassr for a year. Suspicion abounds that Ronaldo’s exit may have been related to his coach’s confirmation that his mini-tour of Scandinavia might end with yet another 90 minutes pouting sullenly on the bench. It is not yet known whether his teammates greeted news of his latest paddy with sadness, the popping of champagne corks or a combination of both.
While his legacy as Portugal’s second-best ever player will no doubt endure, this is hardly the kind of glorious send-off he had envisioned when he won the first of his 233 caps against Kazakhstan 23 years ago. He started on the bench then too. Join Michael Butler for hot Nations League clockwatch action from 7.45pm (all times BST) while Daniel Harris takes you through Manchester City 2-1 Real Madrid in Women’s Bigger Cup at 8pm.
You won’t get my thoughts on this. I have little time in every day life for idiocy – and even less on social media. The great crux of our lives is that everyone is allowed to express their opinion … it’s insane when something like that exists.
The world could learn a thing or two from a sports changing room … There, everyone is respected based on the facts and not discredited based on false opinions. Full stop” – Jürgen Klopp rightly reacts with disgust after being questioned about whether the Germany team he is in the process of forming are “white enough”. It’s easy to criticise the Manchester City owners and senior management (albeit that’s no reason not to), but some of us are old enough to remember when they first came in, revolutionised everything and yet they were still getting flak for not respecting the history of the club.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
