DOHA, Qatar — Portugal has spent the entirety of the 2022 World Cup trying to keep a collective straight face amid drama surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo. While he played poorly at Manchester United, head coach Fernando Santos stood by him. When he gave an explosive interview on the eve of the tournament and split with his club, players steered clear of the subject. But on Monday, Santos finally snapped.
Santos said immediately after the match that he hadn’t seen the video. By Monday, he had, and “I didn't like it,” he said, via a translator. “Not at all.”He spoke with hand gestures, with a shake of his head, and with a stern look and furrowed brow. He said the issue had been handled in-house, but then, when asked whether Ronaldo would start and captain the team on Tuesday, as he has throughout the tournament, Santos did not confirm whether he would.
“I only decide who’s going to be the captain when I reach the stadium,” he said, again via a translator. “That’s what I’ve always done. That’s what I’m going to do.” Ronaldo was visibly frustrated and petulant as he walked off the field midway through the second half of what was, at the time, a tie game.clearly captured a brief verbal spat with a South Korean player. They also appeared to catch Ronaldo complaining that Santos was"in a rush to sub me."
Santos said multiple times at his news conference that the issue was “closed.” But of course, under an intense media spotlight, few Ronaldo-related issues are ever closed. There have, separately, been consistent suggestions in the Portuguese and English-language media that
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