Jorge Jesus, the Portugal manager, said he had "not read" Cristiano Ronaldo's letter when he spoke to journalists outside his home late on Tuesday evening.
A horde of journalists met Jesus when he arrived home on Tuesday evening. They asked for his response to the extremely long statement Ronaldo had written late in the afternoon.
Ronaldo's statement read: "The manager asked me whether I wanted to play against Norway. That was outside my recovery and training plan, but of course I said yes. He replied that I had to prepare, because I would play 30 minutes." Ronaldo began his warm-up from half-time, but was not brought on. "The manager had broken his word to me."
Afterwards, Ronaldo did not thank the travelling supporters. "That was my mistake and should not have happened. I apologise to the Portuguese people who supported us there so intensely." Two days later, according to him, he met Jesus and Simão Coutinho, sporting director of Al Nassr. Ronaldo said they agreed that Jesus would acknowledge during his press conference that Ronaldo had never asked for minutes himself and that it had been a mistake to let him warm up without bringing him on.
According to Ronaldo, little came of that. "The attitude had nothing to do with our meeting. I heard expressions and an aggression that I do not think I deserve." For the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, that was the limit. "It was the second time he had broken his word to me." Ronaldo then packed his things and left the training camp.
Ronaldo took responsibility for that decision himself. "I must apologise to my team-mates because I left the training camp. Despite the complete breakdown of trust in the manager's word, I should not have done that." He even believes the Portuguese Football Federation should punish him. "There should be no mitigating circumstances. I am not just any player, I am the captain and that is precisely an aggravating circumstance."
Still, there is no question of a definitive farewell. Ronaldo promised that later there will be time for "one or more farewell matches", but for now he wants to keep fighting for Portugal. "If I am physically fit, playing for my club and hopefully scoring goals, then after serving the suspension imposed on me I will be available to fight for and win with our national team." He ended his statement with the words: "This is, believe me, the pure truth."
Speaking on Tuesday evening, Jesus said he had not even read Ronaldo's statement. "I was at the Portugal Under-21s match (against the Czech Republic, 2-0 win, ed.). I did not have time for it," he said. "Now I have time to read the statement."