Portugal’s manager Fernando Santos has no regrets about benching Cristiano Ronaldo after the team was knocked out of the ongoing FIFA World Cup as they lost to Morocco by 1-0 at the Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday.
Youssef En-Nesyri scored in the 42nd minute for Morocco and helped his team become the first African nation to qualify for the semifinals of the World Cup. Nesyri outjumped Portugal’s goalkeeper Diego Costa, who made a mistake to go for the ball.
Meanwhile, Santos introduced Ronaldo in the 51st minute of the game but the talisman could not inspire his team to win. Thus, Ronaldo’s dream of winning the World Cup is now over. Ronaldo was seen in tears after Portugal was knocked out by Morocco.
In fact, Santos had played with the same team against Switzerland in the Round of 16 match and they had comprehensively won by 6-1.
“I don’t think so, no regrets,” Santos said. “I think this was a team which played very well against Switzerland. Cristiano Ronaldo is a great player, he came in when we thought it was necessary, so no regrets.
“If we take two persons that were the most upset it is Cristiano Ronaldo and myself. Of course, we are upset, but that is part of the job of the coach and the player.”
Portugal could only manage three shots on target and the team’s midfielder Bruno Fernandes criticized Argentinian referee Facundo Tello.
“I don’t know if they’re going to give the cup to Argentina,” Fernandes said. “I don’t care, I’m going to say what I think and screw them. It’s very strange that a referee from a team that’s still in the cup officiates us. They’ve clearly tilted the field against us.”
Pepe also joined Bruno Fernandes and he feels the referee didn’t let them play.
“We dominated the game 100 percent of the time,” Pepe said. “I think what the referee did today; this is an Argentinian referee. After what Messi said yesterday it seems there’s something very weird. We couldn’t play in the second half because the referee kept stopping the game.
“I’m very angry, very angry because the referee didn’t let us play.”
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