Cristiano Ronaldo appeared extremely frustrated after Portugal’s 1-0 defeat to Spain, but Bruno Fernandes came to his defence.
Bruno Fernandes has defended Cristiano Ronaldo and believes there is “no need” for a “soap opera” around his Manchester United and Portugal team-mate following a 1-0 loss to Spain.
After an impressive 4-0 win against the Czech Republic, Portugal took pole position in Group A2 of the UEFA Nations League, beating La Roja and missing out on a place in the final.
Ronaldo failed to score for a third successive international game as he saw two attempts saved by Unai Simon and looked extremely disappointed and frustrated at full-time.
But Fernandes defended his colleague, saying: “There is no need to create great stories. Cristiano is here, he is here to help and he will continue to help.”
“Cristiano is a striker, he wants to score goals. Frustration is normal, but no one was more frustrated than anyone else.
“We were all very frustrated – there is no need to make a soap opera around Cristiano.
Ronaldo has just one goal and one assist for club and country this season, but Fernandes added: “He did what he had to do, the goals will come.
“This is the phase. When the goals start coming, he will have more capacity and calmness to continue scoring many goals for our national team. We cannot forget that he is the best goalscorer of all time.”
After two disappointing internationals, failing to progress past the last 16 at either the 2018 World Cup or Euro 2020, Qatar provide an opportunity for Portugal to put things right.
“[The League of Nations] is not defending,” Fernandes said. “The World Cup is a completely different competition.
“We knew what we had to do in this competition, unfortunately we couldn’t go all the way.
“The World Cup is coming soon, so we have to focus, be at the best level in the clubs to represent the national team.”
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