Cristiano Ronaldo is 41, still Portugal’s captain on paper, and he walked out of the national team’s camp in Copenhagen last week rather than accept a place on the bench.

The forward left on Wednesday 30 September, the eve of the Nations League trip to Denmark, after head coach Jorge Jesus told him he would not start a second consecutive match. Portugal won 4-2 without him, with Bruno Fernandes running the game and João Félix sealing it in the 87th minute.

Jesus has since insisted the row was a selection dispute, nothing more. “For me, Cris, 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,” the coach told reporters on Sunday, after Portugal beat Norway 2-1 without Ronaldo to reach the Nations League quarter-finals.

Anyone surprised that Ronaldo refused to sit quietly in a tracksuit has never lived with him. Luis Nani has.

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‘Fun for a month’

Nani joined United from Sporting CP in the summer of 2007 and moved straight into Ronaldo’s house in Cheshire, where fellow new signing Anderson arrived shortly after. On Manchester United’s UTD Podcast, Nani described a home that doubled as a daily contest.

“We were living for a month in the same house with Cristiano. It was fun for a month. We’d challenge ourselves a lot,” Nani said.

“Cristiano was very competitive. When you’re staying in his house for a day, it means he challenges you at any time.”

The property had a pool, a tennis court and a ping-pong table, and each of them was in constant use.

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“He had a swimming pool, a tennis court and ping-pong table. Sometimes, it’s just competing to see who knows who’s telling the truth, or who is right about something.”

“Every time, there was a discussion to see who was right or who was better.”

Evenings were the only pause.

“The only time we were not playing was the night time, we’d sit on the sofa talking and Cristiano would just disappear [to bed].”

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Ronaldo was up again before his guests. He also owned the only car, which fixed the rhythm of the household.

“He was the only one who had a car then, in the beginning, so we had to be ready to go with him.”

‘He adopted me’

Anderson, who signed from Porto that same summer, described the arrangement in gentler terms. Speaking to Brazilian outlet Globo in February 2024, the former United midfielder said Ronaldo essentially took in the two new arrivals.

“As soon as I arrived, I went to Cristiano’s house. I thank him very much. He adopted me.”

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“The guy took us to training, fed us, had a cook for us. There was a swimming pool inside and outside the house, a jacuzzi, a tennis court.”

Anderson also tied the setup to the mentality now once again defining Ronaldo’s week.

“If I had 5 per cent of CR7’s mentality, I would be among the 20 best midfielders at that time.”

Portugal’s next matches are at home to Denmark on 14 November and away to Wales on 17 November, and Jesus has said he will speak to Ronaldo before that squad is named.

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