By Melody Gross 
In its Wednesday issue, the newspaper “A BOLA” publishes a lengthy interview with Fernando Santos, less than a year after the World Cup in Qatar, which ended with his departure from the position of national coach after seven years, and already after the coach assumed his duties. He also served as Poland’s coach.
One of the topics covered was, of course, the state of the relationship between Fernando Santos and Cristiano Ronaldo, due to what happened in Qatar, with the words addressed by the captain to the then national team coach when he was substituted against South Korea and with Ronaldo dropping from the starting lineup to the eleven in the following matches. .
Fernando Santos begins by saying that he has no doubt that Ronaldo is the best player in the world.
“He is the best player ever. For me, he is the best, and I have always said that as a national coach, although many people do not agree with me. You can like the style of play more, or the style less.” Geniuses have no comparison. But apart from the great quality, the numbers speak for it. Who has the most records, individually and collectively, the most goals, the most appearances? He won in Spain, he won in England, he won in Italy. “He won with the national team, and he has two titles for the national team. He won everything and more,” the former national coach says in the aforementioned interview, before touching on what happened in the last world championship.
“I made a strategic decision in Qatar. I just said he is the best in the world. And he is. But there was a moment in his career that was very difficult. In the second half of 2022, he has six months to go. “This is terrible. Even on the mental side. It starts right away with that misfortune that befell his home and family, which none of us want to go through. That moment really affected him. Then there’s the sports part. Cristiano did it.” “I didn’t do pre-season training. Two months without training. He returned to Manchester United, but was not used in practice. If you ask me if Cristiano was at the top physically and individually, I’d tell you he was. It was because of that.” “It will always be (…). But in terms of the pace of the match, that was his worst moment. He had no rhythm.”
“It was a matter of strategy (…). Today I made the same decision! First of all, I have to think about the team. I thought that strategically it was the best decision. Me and my technical team, especially because it was.” It is not an easy decision,” he continues, before confirming that Ronaldo’s departure from the team was not directly linked to the words he said to him when he was substituted against Correa.
“None! Zero! I have encountered many such cases and never had a problem with anyone. I have always solved this problem with my players by talking, as I did with him, as is normal. Now, it is true that on the day of the match, in “In the morning, when I went to explain to him that he was not going to play and why he was not going to play, he misunderstood. Do I understand his reaction? I understand! I actually understood.” I mentioned that that period was a source of great anxiety for him, and I understand the reaction because for him he is a great friend who He leaves him. But I couldn’t direct myself there,” he adds, before talking about the relationship between the two.
“I’m still the same with him. From my side the relationship is the same and he’s still like a son or a younger brother to me. The day the phone rings he always knows I’m here. That’s guaranteed.” I know it hurts, I know it hurts a lot. But that’s life,” concludes Fernando Santos in the above-mentioned interview with the newspaper A BOLA.