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Journalism of Courage
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal teammate William Caravalho has opened the lid on the controversial scenes during the World Cup at Qatar. Portugal had left out captain Cristiano Ronaldo out of their starting line-up, keeping hat-trick hero Goncalo Ramos in the team for the quarter-final against Morocco. And Portugal’s football federation then had to deny reports that their skipper had threatened to leave the tournament after the manager Fernando Santos benched him.
“It was a complicated situation. He was already having problems with Manchester United. He started playing in the national team, but then there was a game in which the manager didn’t put him on and it’s normal for Cristiano to have been upset. Any player would be; no one likes to sit on the bench”, Caravalho told the newspaper A Bola.
But Caravalho says that Ronaldo didn’t take the dire step of threatening to leave the squad.
“Cristiano Ronaldo was upset at having gone to the bench, but he was always with the team. Even though he wasn’t playing, he always helped us. The team knew how to separate the problems that Cristiano had and that didn’t affect anyone”, Caravalho said.
Caravalho also had words of praise for the beleaguered world cup coach of Portugal Fernando Santos.
“The truth is that when the results are not in line with what people want, nor with the potential of the national team, criticism comes naturally. It is normal for many people to ask for the dismissal of the manager, but I think he did a job extraordinary in the national team. I, as a player, am very grateful to him.”
