Ronaldo denied swearing at the coach when he was substituted
Ronaldo started and left the field in the 65th minute of the match Portugal lost to Korea 1-2 on the evening of December 2. At that time, the two teams were drawing 1-1. When he was substituted, Ronaldo seemed to mutter something. Some people think that the 37-year-old striker is not satisfied with the coach's decision, so he swears.
But Ronaldo denied this. Sapo newspaper (Portugal) quoted the captain striker: "Before I left the field, a Korean player urged me to hurry up. I told him to 'shut up' because he is not a referee but has a referee. that right. I have no dissatisfaction with the coach."
"Whatever happened, they were all left on the pitch. We have to be united, because the most important thing right now is the team getting to the round of 16. The Portuguese are very confident, because we I really want the team to go deep," added Ronaldo.
When asked about the incident, coach Santos said he also heard the Korean player urging Ronaldo to leave the field early and heard Ronaldo rebuke the player while he was taking off the captain's armband to give to Pepe.
"I saw Ronaldo interacting with a Korean player, and understood what happened. He just responded to the other. If you look at the following pictures, you will understand this. Pepe, after received the captain's armband from Ronaldo, also turned to scold the person who had just resisted his teammates," added Santos.
The Portuguese military leader then confirmed that Ronaldo did not react to his withdrawal from the field, making way for Andre Silva.
Ronaldo aims to match the record for most goals scored by a Portuguese player at the World Cup (9 goals) set by the legendary Eusebio in 1966. He is one goal away, after becoming the first player to score. He scored five consecutive World Cups with a goal against Ghana on November 24. That may be the reason why Ronaldo still plays in Korea, even though before the match he missed two training sessions of the Portuguese team due to injury.
In the loss to Korea, Ronaldo had many opportunities but missed. Not only that, he also contributed to helping the opponent equalize 1-1 in the 27th minute, when the ball hit his back and fell to Kim Young-gwon's position in a defensive corner situation.
This defeat did not make Portugal lose the top spot in Group H, thereby avoiding Brazil in the 1/8 round. Instead, Ronaldo and his teammates will meet Switzerland on the evening of December 6.
