Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Portugal camp amid reported rift

Cristiano Ronaldo has walked out of Portugal's training camp in Denmark, announcing the decision in a post on Instagram on Wednesday evening and promising to set out the reasons behind it "in due course". The 41-year-old captain left shortly after head coach Jorge Jesus held his pre-match press conference in Copenhagen, where the manager denied that any incident had taken place between them. Portugal face Denmark in the Nations League on Thursday.

Reports of a rift between Ronaldo and Jesus emerged after the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was left as an unused substitute in Sunday's 2-1 Nations League win over Norway. Jesus, who coached Ronaldo at Al Nassr for around a year, had insisted at that press conference that Ronaldo was set to return to training with his team-mates.

"There was no incident"

Jesus, who spoke to reporters in Copenhagen ahead of the Denmark game, opened by limiting how much he was willing to discuss his captain.

"I don't have just one player, I have 23. You can ask me whatever you want about any of them," he said. "As for Cristiano Ronaldo, one question is too few. Three are too many. I will only allow two questions about him. Cristiano is not the main reason I am here. The main reason is Denmark."

Pressed on whether there had been a problem between them, the manager was emphatic. "It seems like there was an issue between us, but there was no issue," he said. "I'm the one who makes the decisions and everybody knows that."

He rejected outright the suggestion that Ronaldo had refused to train, pointing instead to a modified programme and to other absentees. "Francisco Conceição, who was injured, didn't train, nor did João Félix, because we tried to manage their fatigue and we'll see tomorrow," he said. "Cris did gym work. He did mobility exercises on the field and then strength work at the hotel. He did not refuse. He will train today. It is the fourth day, so he will train."

Asked again later in the press conference, he grew more forceful. "Do you think any player on a national team refuses to train? Not in Portugal. In another national team, maybe. Only if he wants to leave and has other ideas. No one refuses to train."

A plan agreed in advance

Jesus said Ronaldo's absence from Portugal's first two matches of this Nations League campaign had been agreed with the player, and that the same approach had been taken with Bruno Fernandes.

"It's true that I discussed it with him. We created a plan, just as we did with Bruno Fernandes, and I told Cris that he would not play in the match against Norway or against Denmark," he said. "I worked with Cris for a year. I didn't arrive at the national team three months ago and suddenly meet him. I know his physical condition perfectly, and I already knew from my time in Saudi Arabia, when we had matches every three days, that Cris rarely played every game."

The manager said Ronaldo had told him he would accept whatever the coach decided, quoting the player's earlier remarks back at reporters. "During the match, in the first press conference in Portugal, he said: 'If it's to play, if it's to be on the bench, I will stay, whatever the coach wants.' He never refused anything. That's what happened," he said.

He also addressed the treatment of senior players generally, and rejected the suggestion that status bought different rights. "Player status does not grant different rights. Status is about respect for their careers, as I do with everyone," he said.

The Norway bench call

Jesus confirmed that Ronaldo warmed up during the Norway match but was not brought on, and acknowledged that such a decision would naturally disappoint any player.

"There was no incident. I already explained why it happened. I will explain it again. I have no problem with incidents. I have had many throughout my career. But don't try to create a scandal," he said. "I told Cristiano he would not play these two matches. During the match, I thought maybe I would need him, so he warmed up. Then I didn't put him on."

He added: "I am a coach who does not go to the bench thinking that at minute 60 I will bring on Carlos Daniel. That's not how I work. The match will tell me what I'm going to do. I had agreed with him that he would not play the first two matches, but maybe I would even have needed him in the final minutes. The match told me otherwise, and I didn't put him on. That is the key point."

Jesus conceded that warming up without playing would have left Ronaldo unhappy, while insisting the plan itself was unchanged. "Any player, when we are warming up for 20 or 30 minutes and then doesn't come on, is not happy about that. Nobody is. Much less Cristiano. Much less Pelé or Maradona," he said.

Asked whether he had promised Ronaldo 30 minutes against Denmark, he said: "I can promise whatever I want. I am the coach. I told the player he should not play. I will put you on the bench. If I need you for 30 minutes, you will play; if not, you won't."

He then delivered the strongest line of the afternoon. "No player will make me change my mind. Neither him nor anyone in football. Nor any president. Never, absolutely no one!"

Jesus also said the Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença had come to see him after the reports emerged, and that the matter had been resolved between them. "The president came, obviously. He has to be here with the team. He wanted to know what had happened because of what was being said in Portugal. But after dinner, we had already solved the problem, which was not a problem," he said.

Ronaldo's statement

Ronaldo announced his departure later on Wednesday in a post on Instagram.

"Following the national team manager's press conference, and after a conversation with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation, I decided to leave the national team's training camp," he wrote.

"In due course, I will tell the Portuguese people the truth about the reasons behind my departure from the national team, to which I have always been dedicated.

"Now is the time to wish good luck to Portugal and to all my teammates, without exception."

The Spanish outlet Marca reported earlier on Wednesday that Ronaldo had taken a private jet to Madrid. Punch, citing reporting from Copenhagen, said the captain was reported to have departed in a Portuguese Football Federation vehicle.

What comes next

In Ronaldo's absence, Rafael Leão will wear the No 7 shirt for Portugal against Denmark. Ronaldo has not trained with his team-mates since the Norway win, in which his replacement Gonçalo Ramos scored.

The captain's last appearance was in Thursday's Nations League opener against Wales, a frustrating evening on which he missed a string of chances, had a second-half effort ruled out by a VAR intervention and was taken off in the 67th minute. That was his 234th cap, and the decision to leave camp before the Denmark match casts doubt on whether he will add to it.

Across a 23-year international career Ronaldo has scored 146 times in 234 appearances for Portugal, leaving him 21 short of 1,000 career goals on his current tally of 979. Sky Sports News chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol said the manner of the exit had been poorly handled. "Another day, another big Cristiano Ronaldo story. He is a man who has been making headlines for 23 years with Portugal. This latest story, though, leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth," he said, adding that Ronaldo "appears not to have taken this snub very well".

There has been support for Ronaldo on social media, including a message shared by his sister Elma Aveiro, who commented "everything has been said here". The post read: "CR7 deserved more respect. The national team deserved more structure. Portuguese journalism deserved more competence and less speculation."

SportsLigue