Jesus makes no concessions over Ronaldo: I decide who plays, no one will change my mind

Jorge Jesus addresses the Ronaldo situation directly. Ahead of the match against Denmark, Portugal’s coach did not dodge questions about his alleged rift with Cristiano. The problems reportedly arose after his 90 minutes on the bench against Norway, an exclusion CR7 did not accept.

“It’s not that I have a problem answering, but the focus is entirely on Denmark. I feel like we are here to play a friendly…”, were the first words of the former Al Nassr coach, who immediately tried to bring the focus back to the match.

However, first, Jesus was keen to clarify the situation with CR7: “There was no incident. I have already explained why this situation arose. I will explain it again. I have no problem addressing these issues. I have had many throughout my career. But now you want to make it an incident…”.

Then Jesus laid his cards on the table: “I told Cris he would not play in these two matches. During the match, I thought I might need him, so I told him to warm up. And then I didn’t bring him on. Any player who stands there warming up for 20 or 30 minutes and then doesn’t come on is not happy. Cris even more so. That is the rule. Rights are equal, and as coach, I decided he would not come on.”

Ronaldo leaves the training camp. The former Manchester United, Juventus and Real Madrid striker, after Jesus’s comments at the press conference, also missed today’s training session, despite the coach’s assurance that the situation had been resolved. “I am the coach and I decided not to use him. If I need him for half an hour, he will play half an hour, otherwise he will not play”, Jesus added.

“No player will ever change my mind on this, not him, not anyone else in football, not any president.”

The reference is to the urgent meeting with Ronaldo in the presence of the Portuguese Football Federation president: “They forced me to speak with Cris about an issue that wasn’t even a problem. Cris, there is so much discussion about this in Portugal that we have to talk, but I don’t understand what is happening. There was nothing to talk about. What we talked about is what he said at the press conference. He said: ‘I am here for you to decide. If you want me to play, I will play. If you want me to go to the stands, I will go’. The president came, of course, he has to be here with the team. Hearing what was being said in Portugal, he wanted to know what had happened. But after dinner we had already resolved the matter, which was not a problem”, Jesus concluded.