The Portuguese coach Fernando Santos guarantees that placing Cristiano Ronaldo on the bank of Portugal against Suíça is just a “strategic option” and “is not at all linked” to the player’s protests when he was substituted, in the last game of the group stage, against Korea From the south.
Speaking to RTP from Qatar, Fernando Santos assured that this matter “is closed and has been forgotten.”
The coach of the national team explained that placing Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench “is a strategic option” that has been prepared “for a few days for this match” in search of “changes and different movements”, as well as “great inventiveness”. . in the attack
Fernando Santos also took the opportunity to point out that the striker “is an exemplary professional and, if he has to go to the game, he will absolutely help Portugal a lot.”
This Tuesday, Cristiano Ronaldo was relegated to the bench of the Portuguese soccer team after, on Monday, the team acknowledged that they did not like “really at all” the attitude of the striker, when he was substituted in the defeat against the South. the Koreans (2-1), in the last day of the group stage.
In the 80 games in which they used Ronaldo, only three times did Santos not launch the starter: twice with Andorra, in an official match in 2017 and a friendly in 2020, and, more recently, with Spain, in the League of Nations. , In sevilla.
Portugal and Switzerland meet in the last of the eight matches for the round of 16, starting at 10:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. in Lisbon), at the Estádio de Lusail, in a match that will be led by the Mexican Cesar Ramos.
Source: TSF
