Cristiano Ronaldo may have landed himself in hot water with Portugal manager Fernando Santos, following his substitution in the World Cup loss to South Korea, and it could cost him the captaincy.
Ronaldo is currently out of work, once Portugal are knocked out of the tournament in Qatar, although reports have claimed he’s about to sign a new deal.
It all stems from a falling out with Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, which led to him doing his now infamous interview, which ended with his contract getting terminated.
Whilst the forward wanted to leave Old Trafford last summer, the falling out really started when the 37-year-old refused to come on as a sub in the game vs Tottenham Hotspur.
Now the five time Ballon d’Or winner appears to have annoyed yet another manager over his reaction to a substitution during a game.
Ronaldo was taken off in Portugal’s 2-1 loss to South Korea in their third group game of the World Cup, a result that didn’t actually matter as they’d already qualified.
Something clearly got on his nerves, as he was pictured putting his finger to his lips to shush someone as he came off the pitch.
That hasn’t gone down well with manager Santos, who has claimed that the all time top scorer in men’s international football isn’t guaranteed to be captain in the last 16 game against Switzerland on Tuesday.
“Have I seen the images? Yes, I didn’t like it, not at all. I didn’t like it,” Santos said in his pre match press conference.
“I really didn’t like it. But from that moment onwards everything is finished regarding that issue.
“These matters are resolved behind closed doors. It’s resolved. Full stop on this matter and now everyone is focused on tomorrow’s match.”
Having revealed he wasn’t happy with his captain, Santos refused to confirm that the former Real Madrid star would wear the armband, even hinting he may not start the match.
“I only decide who is going to be captain when I reach the stadium,” the manager said.
“I still don’t know what the lineup will be. That’s what I’ve always done and that’s what I’m always going to do and it’s going to be the same tomorrow.
“The other topic is solved. We have fixed that in-house and that’s it.”
It would certainly be a hell of a decision for the manager to drop the out of work striker, although so far his only goal came in the opening group game win against Ghana, which he was accused of driving for.
Speaking after the game, Ronaldo had explained the finger to the mouth incident, saying, “Before my substitution, one of their players was telling me to leave quickly.
“I told him to shut up, he has no authority, he doesn’t have to say anything.”
Not that Ronaldo is one to listen to authority any way…