Portugal manager Fernando Santos has admitted he was thoroughly unimpressed to see footage of Cristiano Ronaldo cutting a frustrated figure as he was substituted in the team’s final group stage game against South Korea.
“You’re in a f**king hurry to sub me off,” reports had quoted Ronaldo as saying as he left the pitch, with the striker later insisting his anger was directed at a South Korean player who was trying to hurry him off the pitch.
Santos actually backed that up, telling reporters that Ronaldo’s reaction was a response to being antagonised by an opponent and nothing to do with the fact he was being substituted.
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Now, however, he appears to have changed his tune.
“Have I seen the images when Ronaldo was subbed? Yes. Did I not like what I saw? No, I didn’t like it one bit,” he told the media before his side’s last 16 clash with Switzerland on Tuesday.
“The matters are to be resolved behind closed doors. It’s resolved. Full stop on this matter, and full focus on tomorrow’s match.”
Portugal had already qualified for the knockout stages by the time Ronaldo was subbed off, with his side tied 1-1 with South Korea. They’d go on to lose the game but still maintained top spot in the group.
Individually, Ronaldo is looking to tie, and eventually beat, Eusebio’s record for nine goals for Portugal at the World Cup. He currently sits on eight and, at 37 years old, may not have many more opportunities to claim the record as his own.