Foreign press reports have revealed new developments in the crisis between Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal's star player, and Jorge Jesus, his national team coach.
Ronaldo had a dispute with Jorge Jesus due to not playing in the recent match against Norway, before things escalated further with statements from the coach, which subsequently led to him leaving the team camp located in Denmark.
Portuguese journalist Pedro Sepulveda clarified that Ronaldo knew he would not play in the matches against Norway and Denmark, but he requested to accompany the team for both games. However, Jesus asked him to play half an hour against Norway.
He added in comments to the British network TalkSport: "Ronaldo was warming up convinced that he would enter the game, and here Cristiano's ego appeared, as he did not handle well the fact that he was warming up without playing."
He continued: "In the end, Ronaldo did not enter the game and was very angry, but he did not make a decision to leave the national team. An emergency meeting was held with the federation president and Jesus, who apologized and confirmed that he would offer a public apology to Ronaldo at the press conference preceding the Denmark match."
Sepulveda indicated that Ronaldo was upset about not receiving the public apology, and at the same time was angry because the Portuguese coach told him one thing and then did the exact opposite, as his statements were completely different.
He completed: "I am sure that Ronaldo should have agreed to appoint Jesus as Al-Nassr's coach two seasons ago, so I believe he felt betrayed by someone he had previously helped."
Pedro Sepulveda concluded his statements saying: "I thought it was just a passing wave of anger, and that Ronaldo could return in the next phase, but the information I have says that Ronaldo has made his decision and will never wear the Portugal national team jersey again, ever."
