Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t think his days playing for Portugal are over despite saying that the head coach lied to him about playing time and the superstar striker bolting from the national squad last week.
Ronaldo, 41, issued a lengthy (1,700-plus words) statement to Portuguese media on Tuesday which was later shared on his social media accounts. At issue are versions of events between Ronaldo and new coach Jorge Jesus, what allegedly was promised and the coach’s subsequent statements at a press conference about the player.
The arrangement, according to Ronaldo, was for him to play for 30 minutes against Norway in one of Portugal’s four matches in the UEFA Nations League.
According to Ronaldo, Jesus wanted him to play in the first match against Wales on Sept. 24, skip the matches against Norway (Sept. 27) and Denmark (Oct. 1) and play in a rematch against Norway on Oct. 4. The coach didn’t think he should travel to the middle matches, but Ronaldo says he wanted to set an example as captain and be with the team even if he didn’t play.
Ronaldo contends that Jesus told him at lunchtime of the Sept. 27 match against Norway that the coach changed his mind and would play him for 30 minutes. The player agreed, even though it was “outside my physical recovery and training plan.”
But Ronaldo didn’t play even after warming up. Jesus said after Portugal won the match 2-1 that it “wasn’t the right moment for Cris to come on,” according to The Athletic, as the state of the match led him to change his mind.
“The head coach had failed to keep his word,” Ronaldo said in his statement on Tuesday. “At the end of the match, I just wanted everything to be over with a victory and to be left alone. I did not go to greet the fans. That is a failing that is solely my responsibility and should not have happened.
“I apologize to the Portuguese people who supported us there, I apologize to the fans, and I apologize to those who, not Portuguese, may have traveled there to see me and whom I may have disappointed.”
Jesus said at a press conference in the week following the match that he had told Ronaldo that he wasn’t playing in the middle two games, citing veteran player’s struggles to play matches scheduled three days apart.
Pedro Proenca, president of the Portuguese Football Federation, said any dispute between Ronaldo and Jesus — who coached him in 2025 and 2026 with the Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr — was a “misunderstanding,” he told RTP Noticias. Proenca said Ronaldo is still part of the team and available when needed.
In his lengthy statement on Tuesday, Ronaldo said that he met with Jesus two days after the Norway game and the coach had promised to have a press conference and “close the matter by telling the truth.” That version included that Ronaldo never asked to play any minutes, that Jesus proposed a new playing schedule and made a mistake to have him warm up but not play him.
There was a “short document” drafted and validated by Ronaldo before it was sent to the coach, he wrote.
Among the statements that Jesus was supposed to say at the press conference, “I made a mistake by putting someone of the stature of Pele or Diego Maradona on to warm up and then not putting him in the game. If it were today, I would not do it,” according to Ronaldo’s summary on Tuesday.
Jesus, who was supposed to say that he wanted Ronaldo on the team “a lot,” instead spoke with “aggressiveness” and a “high and mighty attitude,” the player wrote. That led him to “leave the camp without waiting for any further breach of word.”
“Truth is still the most important thing in the relationship between people,” Ronaldo wrote. “However much it hurts, let them tell me the truth.”
Ronaldo wrote that he would accept the consequences of his actions, including punishment by the PFF, as he is the captain of the team.
He apologized to teammates for leaving camp, which he said he should not have done, and apologized to the Portuguese people.
Ronaldo said there will be time for one or more farewell matches, but he’s thinking more about competing for his country. Portugal won all four of the Nations League games, with two more matches against Denmark and Wales in November. Ronaldo has scored a record 146 goals in 234 appearances for Portugal.
“If I am physically fit, playing for my club, scoring goals, I hope, that after serving whatever suspension is imposed on me, I will be available, as I have always been until today, to compete and win for our national team,” Ronaldo said.
–Field Level Media
