Cristiano Ronaldo will not start for Portugal against Switzerland on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
LUSAIL, Qatar — Portugal benched Cristiano Ronaldo for their 2022 World Cup round of 16 match against Switzerland on Tuesday.
Coach Fernando Santos made the decision a day after telling a press conference that he “really didn’t like” Ronaldo’s reaction to being substituted in the 65th minute of a 2-1 group stage defeat by South Korea.
Santos had also been pressured by the Portuguese public to drop Ronaldo for sporting reasons. The 37-year-old forward scored just once in the group stage, from a controversial penalty. His performance had declined so badly at Manchester United that United benched him – and got significantly better without him.
Ronaldo has captained Portugal for over a decade and has only been substituted on three times for his national team since he was a teenager in 2004, according to FBref.com. Two of these three times were against Low Andorra; the other was against Spain earlier this year.
Portugal’s front four in his absence will be Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramos.
The game begins at 10pm local time (2pm ET, Fox/Telemundo) at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.