Cristiano Ronaldo’s chapter with the Portugal national team is far from over, but the noise surrounding his departure from the training camp shows no sign of dying down. Portugal have recorded three victories in this Nations League campaign, yet the controversy continues to grow — and a new element has once again inflamed tempers in the country.
At the centre of it is a single “like”. Ronaldo reacted on Instagram to a video in which the former Brazilian footballer Felipe Melo criticised the attitude of Portugal’s players towards their captain. Melo made the remarks in statements to Sportv, and the clip spread quickly across social media, collecting more than 27,000 likes. One of them belonged to Ronaldo.
Melo publicly questioned the lack of support and respect shown to the 41-year-old forward by his teammates in recent days, and put a particularly sensitive comparison on the table. According to the Brazilian, there is a notable difference between how Ronaldo’s Portugal colleagues treat him and how Argentina’s players support Lionel Messi. “There is a grotesque difference in the way his Portuguese teammates treat Cristiano and the Argentine players treat Lionel Messi,” he said.
Melo also argued that Ronaldo continues to command respect even among his own rivals. He pointed to Hojlund, who he said had become very angry with Jorge Jesus because his idol is Cristiano Ronaldo rather than the Portuguese national team. “That is wrong, because no one there comes close to Cristiano Ronaldo’s ankles. He cannot be allowed to leave like that as if nothing had happened,” Melo said.
Ronaldo’s gesture came without any accompanying statement, but it has added further fuel to an issue that seemed destined to die down after his three victories with Portugal. It has reopened the debate over what happened during the training camp and once again places the captain at the centre of the conversation.