Ronaldo walked off the field alone after Portugal’s win against Switzerland. But on social media, the superstar seemed to be in good spirits as he hailed his team’s victory.
If you were watching the Round of 16 match between Portugal and Switzerland in the FIFA World Cup early Wednesday, the first thing one would probably notice was Cristiano Ronaldo missing from the lineup.
But if you were “watching” social media, you should have seen Ronaldo’s post on Instagram. He praised his team in a photo he uploaded after that game against the Swiss.
The game where they notched that win is the same game that Portugal coach Fernando Santos benched the Portuguese superstar. Santos says it was a tactical decision, not disciplinary.
Ronaldo, the first player to score in five World Cups, has only one goal in Qatar which came in Portugal's group opener against Ghana.
He appeared to challenge Santos over the decision to substitute him in their loss to South Korea but the 37-year-old, a free agent after leaving Manchester United, denied that was the case.
All eyes were again on how Ronaldo would react to the benching against Switzerland. But as that happened, Portugal took matters into their own hands as they dominated towards a 6-1 victory.
Ronaldo’s replacement, Goncalo Ramos, was the star in the match, scoring a hat-trick to help Portugal set up a quarter-final match versus Morocco.
Santos will have a few days to decide whether to put Ronaldo back in the starting XI once more or give Ramos the reigns and see whether he can continue his superb performance.
The last time Portugal reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup dates back to 2006, where they finished 4th. And given that this may be Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup, could we see them finally win it all?