“No one’s beating Cristiano over any sticks, they’re just putting balance into your bull****,” Simon Jordan told Piers Morgan on the October 5 episode of Football Uncensored, Morgan’s own YouTube show.
Morgan had gone into the broadcast loaded. On social media earlier that day he branded Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus “the Portuguese Ten Hag” and said he would “deal with him (from a very well-informed perspective) on tonight’s episode,” according to The News. He also accused Jesus of trying to “humiliate” Cristiano Ronaldo “with shocking disrespect.”
On air, Morgan called Ronaldo “indisputably the best Portuguese player” in history.
Kaveh Solhekol nominated Eusebio for that argument, and he reminded Morgan that Portugal’s Euro 2016 title was won without Ronaldo on the pitch after the forward was stretchered off in the 25th minute of the final.
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Morgan dismissed the pushback as an attempt “to belittle the greatest player to play the game.”
“Facts don’t mean anything to Piers,” Jordan replied.
The walkout that triggered Morgan
Ronaldo had left Portugal’s camp on October 1, hours after Jesus confirmed he would again be left out of the starting XI for the Nations League match against Denmark.
The 41-year-old had spent the entirety of Portugal’s 2-1 win in Norway on the bench, having captained the side in the 1-0 home victory over Wales days earlier. Jesus acknowledged his captain was disappointed to remain on the bench against Norway.
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Portugal, the reigning Nations League holders, beat Denmark 4-2 in Copenhagen on October 1 without him. Joao Cancelo, Vitinha, Joao Felix and two from Goncalo Ramos sealed the win.
Ronaldo apologises to Portugal
A day after the Morgan episode, Ronaldo apologised for the walkout and said he would be available for Portugal again once he had been punished. He accused Jesus of breaking his word twice: first on an agreement about his game time in the Nations League, then on a public clarification Ronaldo says the coach had promised to make in a news conference before the Denmark game.
“It was the second time he failed to keep his word,” Ronaldo said in the statement.
Jesus has rejected the idea that any of this is personal.
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“Just because it was him, and perhaps rightly so, because he is a symbol, this whole issue of warming up and not warming up, coming on and not coming on, has been created,” Jesus has said.
Ronaldo is waiting on the Portuguese Football Federation to decide any sanction before his next Portugal appearance.
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