I Told Ronaldo He Wouldn’t Play Against Norway – Jorge Jesus

Portugal manager Jorge Jesus has addressed the growing tension between him and Cristiano Ronaldo. This comes after the legendary forward was left as an unused substitute against Norway.

Admitting that he asked Ronaldo to warm up ahead of a potential substitution, Jesus stated that game circumstances eventually altered his original agreement with the captain.

Emphasizing that CR7 will always be a competitive player, Jorge added that no footballer enjoys warming up just to end up not playing.

His words, “It’s true that I agreed with him, we developed a plan like with Bruno Fernandes, and I told Cris that he wouldn’t play in either the match against Norway or the one against Denmark, because I’ve worked with Cris for a year.

I didn’t just arrive in the national team three months ago to get to know Cris. I know Cris’s physical capabilities perfectly well.

I’m not the kind of coach who, as soon as I sit on the bench, is already thinking about the 60th minute and the substitution I’m going to make. I had agreed with him that he wouldn’t play the first two matches, but I thought during the match that I might need him in the final minutes.

But the match dictated something else, and I didn’t bring him on. That’s the truth. During the match, I thought that I might need him and that he would warm up, and then I didn’t bring him on.

No player is happy when they warm up for 20 or 30 minutes and then don’t get played. Nobody’s happy. Least of all Cris. What did I promise? Like I said, I wasn’t going to bring him on, but I said before the match, ‘Cris, if I need you, you’ll play 20 or 30 minutes,’ and he said, ‘Okay.’

Once he was on the pitch, I asked him to warm up in the 45th minute; I didn’t know what I was going to do. That’s where I made a mistake; I should have had him warm up about 15 minutes later. I didn’t know what was going to happen, I started watching the game, and I didn’t bring him on.”