Advice offered to Cristiano Ronaldo by former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville could help the dropped Portugal superstar from repeating the same mistakes which led to his latest Old Trafford departure.
Ronaldo, 37, started all three Group H matches for the Euro 2016 winners at the Qatar 2022 World Cup. However, with last-16 progression on the line at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday night, he was surprisingly omitted by Fernando Santos after venting his anger after being substituted during their previous World Cup showdown against South Korea.
Adding insult to injury for Ronaldo, his replacement in the team – Benfica striker Goncalo Ramos – scored a brilliant hat-trick as Portugal clocked up a statement 6-1 win to book their place in the quarter-finals. Next up for his country is a last-eight meeting with Morocco after their famous penalty shootout triumph against Spain.
Domestically, five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo has yet to select his next adventure after leaving United for the second time last month. It came in the aftermath of his bombshell interview with Piers Morgan, in which he blasted the club, Erik ten Hag and pundit Neville – among others.
Not for the last time, Neville was pressed on Ronaldo during an interview with Mirror Online in October and those words were not too dissimilar from what Portugal manager, Santos, said when the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had been dropped from his starting XI on Tuesday night.
Neville said: “What I would hope is that, like with any player coming towards the end of his career, that he’ll accept that he won’t play every single game and he’ll stay and become a massive contributor like he was [against Everton]. If Ronaldo stays, they have a far better chance of being a top-four team.
“But I suspect his mentality, his psyche is such that he can’t not play. He feels as though this is an insult and people I respect enormously in the game think he’s being disrespected by being on the bench, but I don’t see that at all.”
On his role for Portugal moving forward, Santos said following the win over Switzerland: “That is still something that has to be defined. I have a very close relationship with him, I’ve known him since he was 19 at Sporting. Ronaldo and I never misinterpret the human and personal aspect with that of manager and player.
“I will always consider that he is a very important player to have in the team.” Having disappeared over the horizon – as far as United are concerned – Ronaldo is now, seemingly, at a crossroads on the international stage and choosing the right path this time could be definitive for his World Cup dream.
