Santos: Cristiano was like a son to me, we haven't been talking for 11 months...

There is no great player without great vanity, and few have been greater than Cristiano Ronaldo. Logically, that greatness was followed by the coach's difficulties with the player's vanity, which is perhaps best explained by the last interview of the former coach of that country, Fernando Santos. In an interview with A Bola, the experienced coach admits that he has not spoken to his former friend since he left Portugal's bench after the World Cup in Qatar 11 months ago.

Obviously, Ronaldo did not take it easy that Santos left him out of the starting XI for the important games against Switzerland in the round of 16 and Morocco in the quarter-finals. And although Santos says that he would do the same today, he admits...

"We don't talk anymore... I don't remember the last time we talked. But we certainly haven't talked since we came back from Qatar", says Santos to A Bola.

Just to remind you, in the group stage, Portugal first defeated Ghana and Uruguay in Qatar and then lost to South Korea 1-2 in a match that was irrelevant for them. And that's where the first problem started with Ronaldo, when Santos took him out of the game with the score 1-1 in the 65th minute. The Portuguese media already wrote at the time that Ronaldo asked him when he was leaving the pitch: "Are you in a hurry to take me out?". The footballer himself said that he said something to a South Korean player. But...

"It has nothing to do with it, zero, forget it! Well, do you think that in a 35-year career I haven't had a player roll his eyes and say something from the sideline? I would always solve it by talking, which I did with Ronaldo."

However, when he had to be told that he would not start against Switzerland (Portugal won that match 6-1), Santos had to make the decision, which was especially difficult, because he has known Ronaldo since he was 19 years old and trusted him throughout eight years on the bench of Portugal.

"It is true that he did not understand my explanation that morning. But I did understand his reaction. It was a period of accumulated nervousness in her life, and then his great friend leaves him out of the team. But I could not do otherwise. For my part, we are still good. He is like a son or younger brother to me. I already had such a case with Bruno Alves. I pushed him to Porto, took him to Greece, he grew up with me, but when I stopped calling him to the national team, he didn't want to speak to me... And that passed after that".

Does he hope that this kind of relationship with Ronaldo will also pass?

"It is not a matter of hope, it is in God's hands. I believe that one day we will meet, look at each other and think: 'We have always been like this'. No regrets on my part. I understand that he was hurt at that moment, maybe he is still hurt. But our relationship was not just any relationship. Only, I have always said: I separate the professional from the private. From my side, nothing has changed. I will be patient, I hope that he will change. If not, I'll be sad, but…”

And what actually happened in Qatar?

"It may sound too strong, but we were like father and son, like younger and older brother. But I made a strategic decision. Ronaldo is the best in the world, but it was a very difficult moment of his career. The last six months of 2022 have been terrible. Even if we look at it from the spiritual side, he had this tragedy in the house (one of his twins died at birth) and it affected him. Then we have the sports part. He did not prepare with the national team, he did not train for two months. Back then he returned to Manchester United, but it didn't work out for him", Santos remembers.

Not that Ronaldo wasn't ready, but…

"He was absolutely ready, nobody takes care of his body like him. If we did tests, he would be the best, if we competed, either with sprints or endurance tests, he would probably win. But he was out of rhythm. Worst moment of his career for that matter. We tried, before the World Cup, in the first games... I simply felt that it was strategically better for Portugal this way. It was better for him too. I wanted to change something, to have someone with different characteristics. He would certainly remain important".

The problem is that Ronaldo is used to being the most important and he didn't like the coach's decisions. But Santos assures: he would do the same today, despite the subsequent defeat by Morocco (0-1) in the quarter-finals.

"I would do the same. I have to think about the team first, and from a strategic point of view it was the best decision. We didn't make that decision easily, partly because of our friendly relations, Ronaldo has a lot of weight. But I thought it was better this way. He would have entered the game, but against Switzerland it started so well that there was no point in making a change. And everyone thought then that we would be champions, didn't they? Maybe, if we had beaten Morocco, Ronaldo would have played the next game (against France)... I had the same feeling as in 2016 (when the Portuguese were champions of Europe), but - it didn't happen. That's how it is," Fernando Santos concluded.

Ronaldo was certainly offended. Santos is waiting for the phone to ring...

"He knows I'm there for him, always. It's guaranteed. I know this hurts. I know it hurts a lot. But that's life."