Cristiano Ronaldo 'correctly' benched at 2022 World Cup as ex-Portugal boss Fernando Santos gives defiant explanation for controversial selection call

The record goalscorer in men's international football was consigned to the bench by Santos for Portugal's last-16 clash against Switzerland. Goncalo Ramos's exceptional hat-trick against the Swiss in a 6-1 rout, which powered Portugal to the last eight, convinced the manager to stick to his guns, with Ronaldo again left out of the starting line-up for the quarter-final against Morocco. Although the Al-Nassr forward was eventually brought on in an attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit, Walid Regragui's men were resolute in defence and kept Portugal at bay to knock them out of the tournament.

Santos has claimed the decision was entirely tactical and insisted that the reaction would have been different if Portugal had made the semi-finals. "It was a tactical and technical decision. There was no other situation," said the new Besiktas coach. "Strategic decisions are always the most important things for me. I had to make these decisions and I made them correctly. If we had not been eliminated from the World Cup, there would have been no problem."

Ronaldo has seen a resurgence in form under new manager Roberto Martinez, scoring 10 goals in nine matches in Euro 2024 qualifiers. However, his relationship with Santos appears to still be fractured, with the ex-Portugal boss having earlier revealed that the forward has blanked him since the 2022 World Cup.

Ronaldo is ageing like a fine wine and Martinez recently revealed that the superstar is determined to reach 250 caps. The ex-Manchester United forward currently has 205 caps for Portugal and if he is to reach the next milestone, he likely has to be fit for the 2026 World Cup, by which point he'll be 41.