Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed on Wednesday that he had left Portugal’s training camp, hours after head coach Jorge Jesus addressed his role in the squad ahead of Thursday’s Nations League match against Denmark.
Jesus said he spoke with Ronaldo the previous evening and denied any rift between them. Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proenca had also travelled to Copenhagen amid uncertainty over the captain’s situation.
“I’m the coach, I told the player he wasn’t going to play. I’ll take you to the bench. If I need you, you’ll play 30 minutes; if not, you won’t play. It’s not Cristiano, and no player will ever change my mind. Not him, not anyone in football. Not any president. Never, zero,” Jesus declared.
The coach stressed that he and Ronaldo had agreed that the forward would not play against Norway or Denmark, adding that a player’s status did not entitle him to different treatment from his teammates.
“It was a plan: I told Cris he wouldn’t play the first two games, and I thought during the game, ‘Maybe I’ll need him, he’ll go warm up.’ Then I didn’t put him in the game,” Jesus detailed.
“Any player, and I was a player too, when you’re there warming up for 20 minutes, 30 minutes and then you don’t come on, there’s no one who is happy. No one. Let alone Cris. He has status. Let alone if it were Pelé or Maradona. 30 minutes, me, Pelé or Maradona? That’s what status is. The rights are the same, and as the coach I decided that he wouldn’t come on,” he persisted.
Jesus also denied that Ronaldo had refused to train, explaining that the forward normally follows a different workload in the days immediately after a match.
“Cris never trains on the first or the second day after a game. Never. He already spent a year with me. Never. So I agreed with him,” he said.
Jesus later highlighted that selection decisions remained his responsibility. “At a club, the president is in charge. In the team, I’m in charge. In everything I’m involved in. It’s the same with the players.”
Ronaldo subsequently confirmed on social media that he had left the national team’s training camp.
“In due course, I will tell all the Portuguese people the truth about the reasons that led me to leave the national team, to which I have always dedicated myself,” he wrote.
According to media reports, Ronaldo travelled to Madrid on his private jet after leaving the Portugal camp.
Portugal will face Denmark at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Thursday.
Source: Viory
