Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Portugal camp on eve of Denmark Nations League game after talks with Jorge Jesus
Cristiano Ronaldo left Portugal’s camp at Parken Stadium on the eve of Thursday’s Nations League match against Denmark and flew from Copenhagen on a private jet he had summoned to the airport, telling reporters: "In time, I will tell all the Portuguese people the truth".
Jorge Jesus replaced Roberto Martínez as Portugal head coach amid speculation his appointment might end Ronaldo’s international career; the 41-year-old reappeared for Portugal’s Nations League opener against Wales and vowed 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 that total, Ronaldo failed to score in the narrow victory over Wales, was an unused substitute in the subsequent win against Norway and had previously said he would have no objections to being "rested" by Jesus, while he is reported to have spent two days in a hotel gym with only kettlebells and squat racks for company.
The Portugal departure came after what were described as "clear the air" talks involving Ronaldo, Jesus and Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença; those discussions are said to have achieved little clarity and Ronaldo left the camp soon afterwards on the private jet.
Jesus, who had coached Ronaldo at Al-Nassr for a year, denied any rift during media duties held shortly before the player’s exit and was quoted as saying: "If I need him, he’ll come on," Jesus had parped. "If I don’t need him, he won’t."
Ronaldo’s exit joins a catalogue of confrontational episodes from his international career — which the coverage listed as including 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 — and the report noted it remains to be seen where this episode will rank among his on-field and off-field controversies for Portugal.
With Ronaldo no longer available for selection, the piece said uncertainty surrounds his future in a Portugal shirt and it is not yet known whether teammates reacted to his departure with sadness, celebration or a mix of both; the article also stated that "While his legacy as Portugal’s second-best ever player will no doubt endure," he first won a cap 23 years ago against Kazakhstan, the first of his 233 caps, having started that match on the bench.
The newsletter added programming and reaction items for readers: "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," and carried Jürgen Klopp’s full comment on questions about his Germany squad: "There is absolutely no reason to pay attention to these people. 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". Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day was awarded to Noble Francis.
"Preparation for the matches against Denmark and Norway, the latter to be played at the Estádio do Dragão, will continue as planned with the remaining 24 players called up," the Portuguese Football Federation said, confirming Ronaldo’s departure and that the squad will proceed with those fixtures as scheduled.
