Santos: “Regarding Cristiano Ronaldo, everything can be a bit doubtful”
Ronaldo will not play in Portugal’s friendly against Nigeria, but all of the drama surrounding him have left some questioning the validity of his illness.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Portugal’s friendly against Nigeria later today.
“Cristiano Ronaldo has gastroenteritis, that’s what the doctors told me. So he’s not available” said Santos. “As you know, it does not help much. It can really make players feel down. They normally feel weakened as they lose a lot of liquids”
Ronaldo has been dominating headlines recently due to his poor attitude with Manchester United, and now his interview with Piers Morgan in which he accused the staff of trying to get rid of him and said he has no respect for manager Erik Ten Hag. Though Santos insists all that drama has nothing to do with the national team and should not affect them, it’s still left people wondering if Ronaldo isn’t just a drama queen.
When a reporter asked whether Ronaldo’s stomach problems were a legitimate reason for missing practice rather than an excuse, Santos started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop for some time.
“If this was any other player, we wouldn’t doubt it. We would assume he has gastroenteritis, which is true,” said Santos. “But regarding Cristiano Ronaldo, everything can be a bit doubtful, things can be more complicated. But this is not the case. He really does have gastroenteritis. Therefore, he is not available and that’s normal.”