World Cup 2022.. Santos comments on Ronaldo's behavior after being substituted

 Portuguese national team coach Fernando Santos admitted, on Monday, that he was not satisfied with the behavior of his star Cristiano Ronaldo, who appeared angry when he was substituted in the last match of the group stage in the 2022 World Cup against South Korea, last Friday.

Ronaldo came out in the 65th minute during the 2-1 defeat against South Korea and initially appeared to be making gestures towards a South Korean player, but the Portuguese media showed scenes in which they said that the striker used obscene words objecting to Santos' decision.

During a press conference Monday on the sidelines of the match against Switzerland, Tuesday in the quarter-finals, Santos said in response to a question about his reaction to those scenes: "I answered after the match and I will do it again now. I don't know anything about what happened on the field, I saw it Arguing with a Korean player. I don't want to talk about it anymore but about tomorrow's game. But I saw the scenes and I never liked them...I never liked them."

And he continued, “These matters have been settled, we are solving them internally, and it is over. We have reached an end regarding this issue, and now we are thinking about tomorrow’s match, and everyone is focusing on preparations.” Ronaldo's starting role in the team remains a hot topic among Portugal fans, but Santos said he paid no attention to the controversy or to online polls on the matter.

An opinion poll conducted by the widely circulated Portuguese newspaper "A Bola" showed that 70 percent of the participants did not want Ronaldo to start against Switzerland. And Santos added: "I don't read this type of material, it's not disrespectful, but we simply have three days to train for a match and I don't look at other types of news. We focus on the next match."

The issue of the 37-year-old Ronaldo's participation was a hot topic in Manchester United as well, and led to tensions with Dutch coach Eric Ten Hag and eventually to his departure from the English club, according to what the two parties announced.