Cristiano Ronaldo wants to be punished, and he wants it hard. In the written statement he published on Tuesday, 6 October, the Portugal captain told the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) that any suspension handed down for walking out of the national-team camp should be served in full, with no softening, because of who he is rather than in spite of it.
“I am not just any player; I am team captain, and that constitutes an aggravating factor,” he wrote, adding that he understood “the punishment should have no mitigating factors”.
The twist is who he puts in the dock alongside himself. The same statement names Jorge Jesus, Portugal’s head coach, and says he broke an agreement with his captain twice in the space of a few days.
The deal before Norway
Ronaldo’s account begins before the Nations League tie away to Norway. He says the two men agreed he would sit out both the Norway and Denmark fixtures to manage his fitness, and that he never pushed for playing time. On the day of the Norway match, he says, Jesus changed the plan at lunch and promised him 30 minutes.
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They never came. Ronaldo warmed up from half-time onwards and watched from the touchline.
“I warmed up from halftime onwards, watched the minutes tick by and wasn’t called on,” he wrote.
“The manager had broken his word to me.”
That, he says, is why he left the camp in Copenhagen before Portugal’s next match against Denmark, rather than wait around for a repeat.
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The eight-point document
A meeting followed. Al-Nassr sporting director Simão Coutinho flew in to mediate, and the three men worked up a short document that Jesus was due to read at his next press conference. According to Ronaldo, it said he had never demanded minutes, had respected the coach’s calls, and that asking him to warm up without using him had been a mistake. There was no requirement for Jesus to apologise.
At the press conference, Ronaldo says, none of that came through.
“The conference was what is known: the attitude had nothing to do with our meeting,” he wrote in the statement carried in full by The National.
“I heard expressions and an aggressiveness I believe I did not deserve, a ‘high-and-mighty’ attitude that he never showed me, not even remotely, in private the day before. It was the second time he had broken his word to me.”
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Not retiring, not yet
For all the heat, Ronaldo was careful to close one door firmly. He is not quitting the national team.
“If I’m physically fit, playing for my club, scoring goals, I hope, after serving whatever suspension is imposed on me, I’ll be available, as I’ve always been until now, to compete and win for our national team,” he wrote.
A farewell is still on his mind, but on his terms. He promised fans “one or more farewell matches” when the moment comes, and said he keeps a retirement letter ready for when it does.
One to six months in the rulebook
The federation now has to decide what to do with him. Portuguese disciplinary rules state that any player who, without justification, abandons a national-team activity faces a suspension of one to six months and a fine of between €500 and €1,000. Ronaldo is asking the FPF to apply the regulation as written, with no reduction, in a case where that same body could in theory impose the full six months on its own captain.
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As of Wednesday, 7 October, the FPF has not announced a punishment, and Jesus has not publicly answered Ronaldo’s account of events.
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