Image courtesy: fabrizioromano/Twitter
Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo is constantly in the news, whether he is playing or not. From his controversial interview with Piers Morgan where he criticised the Manchester United boss, to leaving the Reds and now, the player was benched against Switzerland at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Football fans around the world were outraged when Fernando Santos decided to sit out his team’s match against Switzerland in the round of 16. However, one response in particular caught everyone’s attention when Ronaldo’s girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez used Instagram to share a post criticising Portugal coach Santos for benching him.
Georgina wrote on her Instagram, “Congratulations Portugal. While the 11 players sang the national anthem all the cameras were on you. What a shame we were not able to enjoy the best player in the world for 90 minutes. The crowd didn’t stop calling for you and shouting your name. Let’s hope that God and your true friend Fernando stay close and make us experience another magical night.”
For the first time since 2008, Ronaldo did not get off to a Portugal game-opening start in any significant tournament. As Portugal thrashed Switzerland 6-1 on Tuesday to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals, Goncalo Ramos, who started in place of Cristiano Ronaldo, justified the surprising choice by scoring a hat-trick on his full debut.
The largest cheer of the evening was produced by the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s entrance in the 73rd minute. Although Ronaldo appeared to have the ball in the back of the net, it was disallowed for a blatant offside.
Ronaldo, the only player to score at five different World Cup.