Arya News - Portugal will not play against until Nations League play resumes in November.
A week after leaving the Portugal national team during the international break, Cristiano Ronaldo has taken to social media to explain his rift with manager Jorge Jesus.
In a lengthy statement, Ronaldo accused Jesus of twice breaking promises about playing him last week during a UEFA Nations League match and then about explaining the decision at a press conference days later.
According to Ronaldo, the two agreed that the five-time Ballon d"Or winner would sit out matches against Norway and Denmark in order to manage his fitness. On the day of the Norway match, Ronaldo claims that Jesus told him that he would play 30 minutes.
During the match, Ronaldo warmed up during the second half, but was never subbed on. Jesus, who replaced Roberto Martínez four days after Portugal was eliminated by eventual World Cup champion Spain in the Round of 16, explained afterward that the state of the game — Portugal winning 2-1 — caused him to change his mind about bringing the forward on.
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A meeting between Ronaldo and Jesus was set up days later, which resulted, Ronaldo claims, in both sides agreeing that the manager would clarify what happened at his next press conference.
"The agreement was simple: the coach would begin the press conference with this subject, trying to end the matter by telling the truth," Ronaldo writes. "He would say that I had never asked to play even for a few minutes, and that the coach alone, no one else, was the one who proposed the plan for this training camp, and that it had been a mistake to subject me only to the warm-up without playing, and that, if it happened again, he would not do it."
Notes were prepared that would have not require Jesus to apologize, only to acknowledge Ronaldo never demanded minutes, had respected the decision of the coach and that Jesus asking the player to warmup only to not play him was a mistake.
Ronaldo said that what Jesus said in his press conference — that there was no agreement in place and the door remained open for Ronaldo to return — was not what was discussed in their meeting.
"It was the second time he had broken his word to me," Ronaldo said. "I decided to leave the training camp without waiting for any further broken promises."
Despite an earlier report from ESPN that Ronaldo would not play for Portugal as long as Jesus was the manager, nowhere in his statement does he claim that. Instead, he wrote that he is not retiring from national team duty and hopes for "one or more" goodbye matches.
"In this regard, I have heard a lot about farewell matches, and that I need a farewell befitting me, and that the federation wishes to grant me this opportunity. I learned in life, while suffering from hunger and having nothing to eat, that no one gives anything to anyone for free.
"I can promise all my fans, and especially the Portuguese people, that we will play one or more farewell matches; there will be time for that. … So, if I am physically fit, playing with my team, and hoping to score goals, after my suspension period ends, I will be available, as I have always been, to compete and win with our national team.
"This, believe me, is the absolute truth."
Portugal"s next international fixtures will come on Nov. 14 and 17 when it plays Denmark and Wales in Nations League group play. Ronaldo has already returned to Al-Nassr as the club resumes its league schedule Friday.