Jorge Jesus has read Cristiano Ronaldo’s statement, and he is not going to argue with it in public. Approached by Portuguese reporters on Wednesday, the Portugal head coach confirmed he had been through the forward’s lengthy letter and offered a single sentence back.
“I’ve read the statement and now, as I do every day, I’m going to the federation to work, to think about the team and the national squad. I have nothing else to add,” Jesus told journalists, as reported by Yahoo Sports.
That is a full day on from his first attempt at the question. On Tuesday night, caught by reporters outside his home, Jesus had said he had not seen the document at all because he had spent the evening at the Portugal Under-21 fixture against the Czech Republic.
“I didn’t read Cristiano’s statement, I was watching Portugal U21 game. I will now have time to read it,” he said, according to Goal.
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What Ronaldo accused him of
The 41-year-old captain’s statement, published on Tuesday, apologised for walking out of the camp before the Denmark fixture but laid out two moments where he says Jesus broke his word.
The first was before Portugal’s match against Norway, when Ronaldo warmed up and expected to come on. He has said he was told at lunchtime that he would play around 30 minutes. The call never came.
The second concerned the pre-Denmark press conference. Ronaldo claims the coach was due to publicly acknowledge the Norway handling and did not do so, according to Football Transfers. After that, he left the squad.
Jesus had already given a longer answer
The Wednesday brush-off is a shift from the tone Jesus took earlier in the week. After Portugal beat Norway 2-1 in Porto on Sunday, he faced a question about whether he owed Ronaldo an apology and refused the premise flatly.
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“What did you say? Apologize? To whom am I apologizing? What did I do to have to apologize?” Jesus said in the post-match press conference, per Sports Illustrated.
He also kept the door open to a return.
“As far as I’m concerned, everything is open. It’s up to Cris to decide his own life. In the next call-up, if Cris is playing and wants to be in the national team, why not?”
That line, delivered before Ronaldo’s statement landed, is now the fuller position on the record.
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Portugal through without him
The context around the row is a Portugal side that keeps winning. Sunday’s 2-1 win over Norway was built on a Joao Cancelo equaliser after Kristoffer Ajer’s opener and a Goncalo Ramos winner. It made Portugal the first team into the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals, with top-two in Group A4 secured and two matchdays to spare.
The quarter-finals are played in March 2027, as Al Jazeera reports. That is Jesus’s next chance to decide whether Ronaldo’s name goes back on a Portugal team sheet.
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