Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo was left angry after being named on the bench against Switzerland.
After expressing his dissatisfaction with Ronaldo’s attitude in the loss to South Korea, Fernando Santos put the 37-year-old on the bench.
In his place, Gonçalo Ramos, from Benfica, started and justified his selection with a hat-trick.
Unsurprisingly, there have been a number of reactions to Ronaldo’s bench with the prevailing sentiment that Santos made the right decision and that Portugal benefited from his decision.
Ronaldo’s former United teammate Fernandes, who scored an assist for the Selecao’s second of the night, had his say on the matter.
Fernandes said: “Do you think someone likes to be on the bench? I don’t think Cristiano is happy. If the coach puts me on the bench in the next game, he would make me angry ”.
“We won the first two games with Cristiano in the first 11, and it may be that if Cristiano plays, he can score three goals and nobody would be talking about Cristiano being on the bench.”
The midfielder said: “Cristiano is doing his job, he’s doing his part and he’s happy with the result because everyone’s goal is to go as far as possible.”
United’s number eight scolded the media for making Ronaldo a spectacle in terms of his playing time.
He added that nobody should talk about him as a disservice to the team, which is far from the truth.
Fernandes reiterated that while Ronaldo’s status in sports makes him a target every time the team loses, this should not be the case.
Whether Santos remembers the former United striker in the quarter-final against a stubborn and resilient Morocco side remains to be seen.
