Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal coach Jorge Jesus met on Tuesday night at the national team’s training camp hotel in Malmö, Sweden, in an attempt to settle the unrest that has taken hold of the squad. The meeting was confirmed by A Bola, which reported that the conversation was conducted in a positive manner and left favourable impressions on both sides, with the shared intention of easing the tension that has built up around the national team.
The friction traces back to the decision to keep Ronaldo on the bench for the entirety of the match played in Oslo against Norway. The forward was initially told that he would not be given any minutes in that game. Jorge Jesus later informed him that the plan had changed and that he would be brought on during the second half for roughly half an hour. Ronaldo went through warm-up exercises in preparation, but in the end he never stepped onto the pitch.
After the final whistle, the Portuguese captain made his anger plain and headed straight for the dressing room. Since then he has not taken part in training with the group, working only in the gym. His absence from collective sessions has generated unease inside the national team and has once again pushed the debate over his role as captain back to the surface.
The matter was addressed directly between Ronaldo and Jorge Jesus on Tuesday night. Pedro Proença, president of the Portuguese Federation, was also drawn into the situation: he had planned to travel to the Azores to watch the under-21 national team face Gibraltar, but instead chose to remain in Copenhagen to deal with the issue surrounding the senior side. Portugal are due to face Denmark tomorrow on matchday three of the Nations League.