Following Cristiano Ronaldo‘s midweek exit from the Portugal training camp ahead of the UEFA Nations League clash with Denmark in Copenhagen on Thursday (October 1), the national team has lost over 1.5 million Instagram followers.
Ronaldo, 41, had a fallout with head coach Jorge Jesus over not featuring in the 2-1 win over Norway in Oslo last week after warming up for over 30 minutes. Following a meeting with Portuguese FA president Pedro Proenca, Jesus and Ronaldo, Jesus was expected to publicly apologise for not featuring Ronaldo against Norway.
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However, Jesus reneged on his promise, which angered Ronaldo, leading to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s exit from the national team set-up ahead of the Denmark game. That has had a massive impact on the Selecao’s Instagram following, which has dropped by a whopping 1.5 million, as per RMC Sport.
Ronaldo played for 67 minutes in the Selecao’s campaign-opening 1-0 win over Wales last week but had a forgettable outing, missing a big chance early on and seeing a second-half effort ruled out by VAR for offside before getting subbed off for Goncalo Ramos.
The AC Milan striker started against Norway, scoring once and having a goal disallowed, while Ronaldo was an unused substitute for the Selecao for the first time in nearly two decades.
“You don’t do that to Cristiano Ronaldo” – Spanish football expert slams Portugal boss Jorge Jesus
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague didn’t mince words as he criticised Portugal boss Jorge Jesus for his handling of Cristiano Ronaldo, leading to the legend’s exit from the national team camp.
Ronaldo, 41, is the most capped player as well as most prolific scorer in men’s international football, having scored 146 times in 234 games across competitions, which includes the aforementioned victory over Wales last week.
“He gets asked to warm up for the whole of the second half practically [without coming on],” Balague said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“There are tacit rules in football: you don’t do that to Pele, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, or Cristiano Ronaldo, right? That’s what he’s seen, that you don’t do that to those kind of players.”
Cristiano Ronaldo is coming off a three-goal campaign at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, where Portugal lost 1-0 to eventual champions Spain in the Round of 16.
Edited by Bhargav
