Dolores Aveiro’s message to the Portuguese public was blunt and personal.
“He has always been Portugal’s hero. They don’t give him the appreciation he should get. They don’t value Cristiano,” she told Portuguese magazine TV 7 Dias in an interview published on 8 October.
“This is the Portuguese people we have.”
Aveiro spoke publicly for the first time since her son’s abrupt exit from the national team’s camp in Copenhagen on 30 September, hours after Jorge Jesus told reporters the 41-year-old forward would again be left out of the starting lineup for a Nations League match, this time against Denmark.
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‘He went out through the small door’
Aveiro did not hide her disappointment at the way the episode unfolded.
“My son could have gone out through the big door, but he went out through the small door, but it’s all right, God will take care of it,” she said.
She described the walkout as something that broke her composure.
“I feel sad, and that’s natural. It was a shock,” she told the magazine.
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The split between Ronaldo and Jesus came three days after Portugal’s 2-1 win over Norway on 27 September, a match in which the forward remained an unused substitute. Ronaldo trained alone in the gym on the following two days, which Jesus publicly described as routine recovery.
“He didn’t refuse. He’s going to train today,” Jesus said at the pre-training press conference on 30 September.
“They forced me to talk to Cris about an issue that didn’t exist.”
By the time Jesus addressed the media that day to confirm Ronaldo would not start against Denmark either, the forward had already decided to leave. In an Instagram post the same evening, Ronaldo said he had informed the president of the Portuguese Football Federation of his decision and promised to tell supporters “the truth about the reasons behind my departure” in due course.
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‘I told him to stay calm’
Aveiro also recalled her last conversation with her son before he left Copenhagen.
“He said to me: Mum, don’t worry, I’ll tell the truth when we’re all together,” she said.
“I told him to stay calm, but in any case, his mind led him to do that. We’ll see. I gave him all my support, but it didn’t do any good.”
Jesus took charge of the Portugal national team this summer on a four-year contract running until 2030, replacing Roberto Martinez after the 2026 World Cup. He has publicly backed his handling of the dispute and said he stood by the decision to leave Ronaldo on the bench against Norway.
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Ronaldo has not spoken publicly on the row since his Instagram post on 30 September, and the Portuguese Football Federation has issued no statement on his international future beyond confirming his departure from the Copenhagen camp.
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