Beaten By Morocco, Fernando Santos Equitably Unwarranted Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo. (Photo: Doc. Twitter @selecaoportugal)

JAKARTA - Portugal national team coach Fernando Santos confirmed that he did not regret his decision to back up superstar Cristiano Ronaldo when the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals started against Morocco.

Ronaldo finally entered after the second half lasted six minutes, but Portugal was already 0-1 behind Morocco who managed to maintain the score until the final whistle was heard at the Al Thumama Stadium, Doha, Qatar, Saturday, December 10 evening.

"There is no regret. I do not regret (the decision)," Santos said when asked by reporters about his decision in a press conference after the match, reported by Antara.

Santos said that he would not change his decision, because he took it based on the positive results against Switzerland in the round of 16.

Previously in the last 16 Portugal won 6-1 over Switzerland, where Goncalo Ramos marked his first appearance as a starter at the World Cup with a hat-trick.

"I used a team that played very well against Switzerland and before the game (against Morocco) there was no reason to change that," Santos said.

Santos also dismissed the notion that Portugal's performance was affected by the swift wave of criticism that led to Ronaldo in recent weeks.

Ronaldo won public attention ahead of the 2022 World Cup in an interview, especially with Piers Morgan, who discussed the situation a lot at Manchester United controversially so that the Red Devils had no choice but to terminate the player's contract.

The interview practically formed his own opinion on Ronaldo, who was later rumored to want to leave Qatar after being recorded by Santos in the match against Switzerland, although this was later denied by the coach.

"I think all criticism of Ronaldo has no effect on this team. We are a very combined team. To be honest, there are two people from Portugal who are most disappointed with this result, namely Ronaldo and me. Naturally, we are disappointed and angry with this result," he said.

On the other hand, Santos was also reluctant to point his index finger at the leadership of Argentine Facundo Tello who served in the Morocco vs Portugal match.

At the end of the first half, Ruben Dias et al had protested to Tello who ignored the incident of Bruno Fernandes' fall in the Morocco penalty box, but according to Santos it could not be the reason for Portugal's defeat.

"I don't think we can blame the referee. Of course there are some situations that might raise questions, but basically we failed to do more than needed to win," concluded Santos.