Cristiano Ronaldo gestures during Portugal's game against Wales
Cristiano Ronaldo wants Jorge Jesus to say: ‘I made a mistake by putting someone of the stature of Pelé or Maradona on to warm up and then not putting him in the game.’ Photograph: Patrícia de Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images
Cristiano Ronaldo wants Jorge Jesus to say: ‘I made a mistake by putting someone of the stature of Pelé or Maradona on to warm up and then not putting him in the game.’ Photograph: Patrícia de Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images

Cristiano Ronaldo: the extraordinary eight points he says Jorge Jesus agreed to make

  • Ronaldo lists notes ‘validated’ for Portugal coach to say

  • Pelé, Maradona, loyalty and selfies get mentions

Cristiano Ronaldo said in a lengthy statement on Tuesday that the Portugal head coach, Jorge Jesus, had agreed to make eight points relating to him in a press conference before the team’s game in Denmark last week.

Ronaldo said he had approved a document listing the points after a video meeting involving him, Jesus, his adviser Tiago Craveiro and his club Al-Nassr’s sporting director, Simão Coutinho.

The meeting, according to Ronaldo, was at “the coach’s request” and he said the document was then “delivered to the coach, as he had requested”.

Ronaldo said Jesus’s failure to make the points in the press conference constituted “the second time he had broken his word to me” and that he then “decided to leave the camp without waiting for any further breach of word”.

Ronaldo’s statement included reference to his failure to salute Portugal’s fans after the game in Norway during which he warmed up extensively but was not brought on. He said:

“The notes I validated were the following: ‘I think it is important, also because it is the truth, to clarify a few things before talking about Denmark:

1. I myself, and no one else, proposed to Cristiano a plan for him this sporting season with the national team. It was a long and very good conversation.

2. I know how much he lives and loves the national team and the weight he has in the world, and even more the weight and the positive influence he has had on the national team for 24 consecutive years.

3. The plan I proposed to Cristiano was accepted.

4. He never questioned my options. He was exemplary, loyal and professional.

5. The match in Norway was not part of the plan I drew up for him. However, I felt that he had managed to recover physically from the first match and I warned him that I might have to use him. Cristiano agreed.

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6. I made a mistake by putting someone of the stature of Pelé or Maradona on to warm up and then not putting him in the game. If it were today I would not do it.

7. To close the subject: I want Cristiano in the national team. In fact I do not want him a little, I want him a lot. Fortunately he also believes in me. He believed at Al-Nassr and he does here as well.

8. About not greeting the fans. We have already spoken about that. Someone who has played more than 230 matches for the national team does not receive lessons from me on love for Portugal. It was a moment of frustration that erases nothing. He is the player who gives the most autographs, takes the most selfies, and shows the most affection to the fans. Let us not invent problems where they do not exist. When we are not happy we react.”

Ronaldo’s statement then said: “That was all. None of these notes, therefore, said that the coach should even apologise to me.”

Reflecting on Jesus’s conduct in the press conference Ronaldo said: “I heard expressions and an aggressiveness that I do not believe I deserved, an attitude of ‘I want, I can and I command’ that he never showed me, not even remotely, in private the day before.”