Portugal coach Jorge Jesus has invited Cristiano Ronaldo back into the national team, days after the forward walked out of the Nations League training camp in a very public row.
Jesus made the overture at his press conference in Lisbon on Sunday night, after Portugal beat Norway 3-1 to go through to the Nations League quarter-finals with a perfect group-stage record.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen; for me, everything is open,” Jesus told reporters.
“He has to decide his life before the call-up. If he’s playing and wants to be in the national team, he can come back whenever he wants, why not?”
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A ‘misunderstanding’, not a rupture
Jesus repeatedly framed the row as a passing episode rather than the start of a lasting break.
“This was a misunderstanding and, in my opinion, it is easy to resolve. As far as I’m concerned, everything is fine,” he said.
He also made clear that any return depends on Ronaldo himself, and on the forward continuing to play at Saudi club Al-Nassr.
“In the next call-up, if he’s playing at Al-Nassr, he’ll be a player who can be called up. If he wants to, he’ll return to the national team,” Jesus added.
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The tone was warmer than the picture Jesus sketched elsewhere in the same press conference. He confirmed he had not yet spoken to the forward since the walkout.
“I haven’t spoken to him. This is a case that, for me, is still badly resolved,” he said.
The walkout and a possible ban
Ronaldo, 41, left the camp in Oeiras on Wednesday 30 September, hours after Jesus had confirmed at a news conference that the captain would not start the following day’s Nations League fixture against Denmark. The forward then posted on Instagram that he had decided to leave the national team’s training camp and would “in time” tell “the Portuguese people the truth” about his reasons.
Portugal played Denmark and then Norway without their all-time top scorer, and secured their place in the quarter-finals in his absence.
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The walkout also carries a formal risk. Under Portuguese Football Federation disciplinary rules, a player who abandons national-team duty without justification can be sanctioned with a suspension of one to six months and, if a professional, a fine of between €500 and €1,000. The federation has not announced any sanction.
Jesus signalled that the standoff will be settled, one way or the other, when he names his next squad.
“In the next call-up, he will be callable. Cris is the one who’s going to decide,” the coach said.
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