The 2022 World Cup already ended four weeks ago, but who doesn't remember the unforgettable confrontation between Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Santos, which led to the Portuguese star's much-publicized benching.
Later, the Selecao were humiliatingly eliminated against Morocco in the quarter-finals, with Ronaldo only sharing late in the second half on the eve of elimination.
This morning (Sunday) in Portugal new details were revealed about the unusual confrontation between the outgoing national coach and the striker and what really happened behind the scenes following Ronaldo's reaction to being substituted against South Korea in the third match of the World Cup group stage.
Santos and Ronaldo in the game in question against South Korea,
Remember, Ronaldo hissed a number of curses after that substitution but claimed after the game that his anger was directed at an opposing player.
On the other hand, Santos reacted immediately, when he said: "I saw everything, but we will solve it in the dressing room and that's all."
This morning in Portugal it was clarified that the Portuguese coach "crushed Ronaldo's spirit" when he slapped him in the face in front of the players in the dressing room: "You can't behave like that, don't forget I'm in charge here".
It was also written in the Portuguese press that "Santos destroyed Ronaldo" in front of his friends and it goes without saying that Cristiano was offended by Santos' decision to scold him in front of his national team members.
As I remember, from there the tension between the two only increased when at the peak the coach decided to remove the star from the team ahead of the round of 16 meeting with the Swiss team.
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