Portugal’s national team camp was thrown into an unexpected situation on Wednesday after Cristiano Ronaldo left the squad in Copenhagen ahead of Thursday’s Nations League meeting with Denmark.
If Ronaldo’s departure on Wednesday ultimately turns out to be an unannounced retirement, his final appearance for Portugal would have come in last week’s game against Wales, where he scored a goal that was ruled offside by VAR.
What happened between Portugal coach and Ronaldo?
Ronaldo did not feature in Portugal’s 2-1 victory over Norway on Sunday and has not trained with the rest of the squad since then. The veteran forward has not publicly announced his retirement, meaning his future with the national team remains uncertain.
“There was no incident whatsoever,” Jesus said. In his statement, the forward said he would explain the circumstances “in due course.” For now, speculation surrounding the end of Ronaldo’s Portugal career remains just that. He was also absent from Wednesday’s session before reportedly leaving the stadium where the team was preparing for the Denmark fixture. The tension surrounding Ronaldo started with Portugal’s Nations League encounter against Norway, where Jesus made the decision to keep the veteran forward among the substitutes. Ronaldo never came onto the field, with his only involvement coming during the second-half warm-up. Once the match was over, he headed straight to the dressing room and was not present with the other substitutes at the team’s training session the following day. The developments fueled speculation about tension between Ronaldo and Jesus. The precise reason behind Ronaldo’s decision to leave Portugal’s training camp has not yet been disclosed.
However, the Portugal coach subsequently rejected suggestions of a crisis involving his captain and said Ronaldo would train with the squad on Wednesday.
