Behind the scenes of the broken pact: Jesus stabs Ronaldo in the back at the end of the journey!

The Portuguese star receives a major shock

Pedro Sousa, the executive director of the Portuguese newspaper "Record", has lifted the lid on the crisis brewing between Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal manager Jorge Jesus after the forward was left on the bench for the last match against Norway.

Ronaldo watched Portugal's 2-1 win over Norway in the UEFA Nations League from the substitutes' bench, days after he had played for 65 minutes against Wales.

The Al-Nassr captain, according to Sousa, made significant efforts to ensure Jesus took charge of the national team. Then things changed, in a manner different to what the two parties had agreed.

Sousa explained that Ronaldo and Jesus reached a mutual understanding last August, before the squad announcement. The plan was to manage the Portuguese star's involvement over the coming period, rather than lean on him for every match. It was an agreement built around the player's circumstances and his international future.

That understanding, Sousa told the Portuguese network "Now Canal", was never an officially announced plan. It was a private agreement over which matches Ronaldo would feature in. The pair settled on four specific fixtures during that period and would then reassess, weighing up a possible return to the national team next November.

But Sousa pointed out that Jesus began handling matters differently from what had been agreed. The coach, he argued, now owes an explanation for the change, especially if he wants to discuss the nature of the understanding he reached with Ronaldo before the squad was named. There is a gap, in other words, between what was agreed and what actually happened.

Jesus, he added, promised Ronaldo 30 minutes of action and did not deliver. That broken promise raised question marks over how the agreement was managed, particularly given that the player, by Sousa's account, had helped bring the coach to his current post with Portugal.

Sousa stressed that the understanding rested on a set number of matches for the player, with the decision on the November camp parked for later. What happened, he confirmed, does not match the vision the pair laid out in August. Rewriting the agreement in this fashion, he suggested, does not sit well.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, refused to stay on the pitch after the final whistle and headed straight for the dressing room while the rest of the squad waited to salute the fans.