Cristiano Ronaldo receives support from prominent names after ‘disgraceful’ decision: ‘Where were Portugal without Ronaldo?’
Rio Ferdinand and Piers Morgan have backed Cristiano Ronaldo. The 41-year-old left the Portugal camp on Wednesday after a clash with head coach Jorge Jesus and may already have played his last international, although there has still been no official word on that.
Ronaldo did not play against Norway and was unhappy about it. The striker did not thank the travelling supporters afterwards and did not train on Wednesday ahead of the next match against Denmark on Thursday evening.
At his press conference, Jesus insisted he does not consider status at all when picking his team and said he has no problem leaving Ronaldo on the bench for the whole match, as he did in Oslo. Ronaldo then left Portugal's training camp.
Reports emerged on Thursday that the iconic number 7 shirt of CR7 would be reassigned straight away. It has now been officially confirmed that Rafael Leão will wear the number 7 shirt in Copenhagen on Thursday evening.
"Disgusting, if true," wrote journalist Piers Morgan, who had previously conducted a number of exclusive interviews with Ronaldo, before the news had officially been confirmed. "After everything Cristiano has done for Portugal... Why on earth are they treating him like this?"
Morgan then added: "Yesterday was the anniversary of his father's death, and he played for his country the day after his father died. Shameful to see this shocking disrespect for their greatest player."
Once the news was officially confirmed, Morgan responded again on X. "What an arrogant prat!" he said, referring to the head coach. "Jesus was never good enough to play for Portugal, now he is enjoying belittling Portugal's greatest player, Cristiano."
Rio Ferdinand, who spent years alongside Ronaldo at Manchester United, also believes the Al-Nassr forward deserves more respect. "Where were Portugal before Cristiano Ronaldo? What had they ever done? Had they even qualified for tournaments? Let alone won anything."
Portugal have qualified for the World Cup nine times in total. Six of those qualifications came after Ronaldo's debut in August 2003. Before that, the southern Europeans also reached the tournament in 2002, when they went out in the group stage, in 1986, when they also exited in the group stage, and in 1966, when Eusébio inspired them to third place.
The same applies at the European Championship. Portugal have qualified for nine editions, six of them after Ronaldo's debut and three before it: in 2000, when they reached the semi-finals, in 1996, when they made the quarter-finals, and in 1984, when they again reached the semi-finals. With Ronaldo, Portugal also won their first trophies: a European Championship and the Nations League twice.
Ferdinand continued: "What annoys me is that a lot of people judge him on his last three or four years. He is still producing fantastic numbers for someone of his age. It doesn't matter which league it is in, they are still fantastic numbers."
He added: "I think a lot of people need to go back in time for a moment... Look at his time at Juventus, what he did there. His time at Real Madrid. And his time at Manchester United. It's as if he has crammed three careers into one. Three world-class careers," Ferdinand concluded.
