The standoff between Cristiano Ronaldo and Jorge Jesus has produced its first significant consequence away from the pitch. Luís Miguel Henrique, the lawyer representing Jorge Jesus, has announced that he is ending his weekly column at Record, citing his professional relationship with Medialivre, the group that owns the newspaper and in which Cristiano Ronaldo holds a stake.
Henrique was clear that no one pushed him out. He described the move as entirely his own initiative and said he had come under no pressure to leave the paper, framing it as “not by anyone’s imposition, but by mere and pure personal decision.” His reasoning rests on the dispute he is conducting with Ronaldo in his capacity as Jorge Jesus’s representative: he did not consider it appropriate to keep being paid by a company in which the footballer is a shareholder while that disagreement is live, arguing the arrangement could cast doubt on his independence. Henrique put the principle plainly, stating that there is no intellectual independence without financial independence, and describing it as incompatible to criticise someone while maintaining a paid professional relationship with a company in which that person has a stake.
His final column carried the title My last dance and was marked by criticism of the Portugal captain. In it, Henrique questioned some of the forward’s decisions and statements, employing an especially harsh tone, argued that reason lay on the side of the Portuguese coach, and admitted he would have liked the episode to end differently while describing himself as “extremely pessimistic” about where it is heading. He also made a point of saying he did not want anyone to believe that Cristiano, or any other figure, could impose a “consequence” on him because of the positions he holds, on the basis that freedom of expression loses its value if it is only exercised when it carries no personal or professional cost. On that reading, his resignation is a way of protecting his own autonomy.
One detail of the ownership structure is worth clarifying: Ronaldo is not the majority shareholder of Medialivre, but one of its main shareholders. CR7 S.A. controls 30% of the capital, while Sorolla S.A. holds 32%. Medialivre’s portfolio includes Record, Correio da Manhã, CMTV, NOW and other Portuguese media outlets.
Henrique’s departure lands in the middle of a full-blown crisis between Ronaldo and Jorge Jesus. The conflict began after the match against Norway, when Cristiano stayed on the bench despite having warmed up for around half an hour. By the player’s account, he had been told he would play roughly 30 minutes; in the end he did not take the field, and he subsequently left the Portuguese training camp before the match against Denmark. Days later he publicly set out his version of events and acknowledged that his decision could carry disciplinary consequences.
The Portuguese Football Federation has already opened disciplinary proceedings and ordered a non-automatic preventive suspension against Ronaldo, with the procedure declared urgent and placed in the hands of the Disciplinary Investigation Commission. Ronaldo, for his part, has left open the possibility of returning to the national team once whatever suspension applies has been served, and Jorge Jesus himself has said the striker could be called up again if he is willing to return. What began inside the Portuguese national team has now spread to another arena, with Jorge Jesus’s lawyer walking away from a newspaper published by the group in which Cristiano Ronaldo is a shareholder.