Former Portugal coach Fernando Santos‘ time at the national team came to an end after the elimination against Morocco in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
In that elimination, the Portuguese coach made the decision to leave the most emblematic player in the history of the national team on the bench.
With Cristiano Ronaldo you never know what might happen, but it may have been his last participation in a World Cup.
The Portuguese star was not in the starting line-up and a few months later, Santos is trying to justify his decision.
“I would make the same decision! It was a strategic decision. First I have to think about the team,” Santos told A Bola.
“I thought strategically that it was the best decision. My technical team and I, as you will understand, discussed this matter, it was not an easy decision.
“Even because of personal issues, friendship and so on, because it had a lot of weight. My confidence in him was the same.
“All of us who were there thought we were going to be world champions.
“If we had beaten Morocco and against our next opponents France, maybe Cristiano would be in the starting 11.”
Left out against Switzerland
Cristiano also did not start the group stage match against Switzerland and the Portuguese national team won 6-1, in the best match of the World Cup up to that moment.
Perhaps the good work played a dirty trick on Santos, who once again dispensed with the services of the then Manchester United player.
For the former coach, the physical aspect also played an important role.
“In any case, in terms of the rhythm of the game, it was his worst moment. He had no rhythm,” Santos adds.
“We tried, during the games before the World Cup, and then in the first games, to give him some rhythm, which was what he lacked.”
The Portuguese coach believes that the situation will come to a good end with the passage of time, although he thinks that Cristiano misunderstood the situation.
“When I called him in the morning to tell him that he was not going to start, he misinterpreted my decision,” he continued.
“Someday we’ll look at each other and think: ‘We’ve always had this (good) relationship’.”