Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister Elma Aveiro has slammed Portugal coach Fernando Santos for “humiliating” her brother after benching him against Switzerland.
Portugal ran riot despite Ronaldo being left on the bench, with his replacement Goncalo Ramos scoring the first hat-trick of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The 21-year-old, who had only played 31 minutes of international football before Santos made his brave call, rewarded his coach’s faith and became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the knockout stages of the World Cup since Pele.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, only came on as a substitute when Portugal were already leading 5-1, with his sister confused as to why he was benched.
“I don’t know why and I don’t understand it, but I’m sure we’ll have the answers from God later, he doesn’t fail, let’s see,” she wrote on Instagram, as translated into English, when asked by one of her followers why Ronaldo was dropped.
#AD: Choose any unlimited 4G or 5G plan. Only start paying next month.
However, later when she seemingly realised that her brother was dropped because of injury, Ronaldo’s sister went on a rant to defend her brother and hit out at the coach.
“Yes Ronaldo is not eternal, yes Ronaldo won’t play forever, unfortunately he doesn’t score goals now, he’s old, Portugal doesn’t need Ronaldo [clapping emojis],” she wrote, per talkSPORT.
“We talked about what we heard, all that he did isn’t important, all that he did was forgotten.
“Now they ask for forgiveness and they don’t need him. I will register that and later we’ll talk.
“Rui Santos, what will he apologise for? Now we can f*** who we want.
“It is a shame to humiliate a man who has given so much, but later I will see a lot more.”
– Advertisement –
Despite the drama around Ronaldo, Portugal will now face Morocco in their first quarter-final since 2006.
