From Copenhagen to Porto, Portugal’s Nations League week has become a test of authority as much as results. Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from the national-team camp, after a disagreement with coach Jorge Jesus over his planned involvement against Denmark, has reopened the question of how the captain’s final international years should be managed.
António Simões, the Benfica great who played alongside Eusébio at the 1966 World Cup, has urged Ronaldo to return but to do so with a clearer acceptance of the collective. Simões said Portugal’s leading scorer can still help the side, though not necessarily for every minute or every match. In his view, Ronaldo can sometimes give the impression that he is focused too heavily on himself.
Simões pointed to Lionel Messi as the model he would like Ronaldo to follow in the closing stage of his career. “Look at how Messi is finishing his career,” he said, arguing that Ronaldo should take a similar path. His appeal was directed at the player, the country and Jesus: “Do it; there is no reason to be ashamed.”
The former forward accepted that Ronaldo has every right to want to play, but insisted that desire cannot dictate every selection decision. Simões said Ronaldo’s pursuit of 1,000 career goals appears to be his foremost ambition, ahead of “the match, the ball, the country and the people”, and argued that the recent episode made the priority of individual interests more visible.
A promise altered in Copenhagen
The dispute emerged during Jesus’s first Portugal gathering after his appointment to replace Roberto Martínez. Jesus and Ronaldo had previously worked together at Al-Nassr in the 2025/26 season, when the coach crossed Riyadh from Al-Hilal. Ronaldo was a regular starter and prolific scorer in Al-Nassr’s Saudi title-winning campaign, and their successful partnership helped strengthen Jesus’s case for the Portugal post.
Even before the Nations League matches, Jesus had made clear that Ronaldo’s status would not override the needs of the team. At his presentation, he praised the No. 7 and said he counted on him, while stressing that his choices would serve Portugal first. He also recalled his blunt old line to Neymar: “You, finish.”
The opening days appeared warm enough. Ronaldo sat beside Jesus at the pre-match press conference before the Wales fixture and, after completing his own answers, remained in the room to listen to the coach. Jesus again spoke positively about his captain, while maintaining that performances would determine selection.
Ronaldo started Jesus’s first match in charge, a win against Wales, and played 67 minutes. The original plan was for him to feature in the first and fourth fixtures of the window. For the second game, away to Denmark, Gonçalo Ramos was selected from the start, as Jesus had already indicated.
The problem came when Ronaldo’s expected late role changed. He was sent to warm up shortly after half-time with the substitutes, but was not brought on. Ramos scored the decisive goal, and Ronaldo left the field immediately after the final whistle, visibly unhappy.
He then missed Portugal’s next training session. The president of the Portuguese Football Federation travelled to the camp the following day and met Jesus and Ronaldo in an attempt to calm matters; that conversation was described as constructive.
Yet the tension sharpened again when Jesus faced reporters. He rejected the idea that there was a dispute, saying his intended use of Ronaldo for 20 to 30 minutes against Norway had been altered by the course of the game. He acknowledged one mistake: asking Ronaldo to warm up just after the interval. But Jesus also underlined that the coach alone decides how every player is used, regardless of Ronaldo’s standing.
Shortly afterwards, Ronaldo left Parken Stadium before training began and announced online that he would depart the camp, promising a fuller explanation later. His exit surprised observers because Jesus had said he expected the forward to train normally, while also indicating that Ramos would start again.
Portugal keep winning, while the captain waits
Without Ronaldo, Portugal completed the Nations League sequence with four victories: over Wales, Denmark and Norway twice. Jesus declined to expand on the dispute until the matches were over. After the final win at Porto’s Estádio do Dragão, he said the door remained open for Ronaldo’s return, denied making any promise connected to an apology, and restated his control over selection.
Ronaldo later issued a lengthy statement of his own. He apologised to Portugal supporters and his team-mates for leaving the camp, accepted that his conduct deserved punishment, and said he remains available for the national side.
At the same time, he made plain that his relationship with the coach has fractured. Ronaldo said Jesus had failed to honour an agreement, alleging that an eight-point document had been prepared for the coach to address at the press conference that preceded his departure. Ronaldo claimed those points were not raised and objected to what he saw as Jesus’s authoritarian tone. He did not name the coach directly in the statement.
For Simões, the way back is straightforward in principle: Ronaldo still has a place, but must accept that usefulness can come in a particular moment rather than on his own preferred terms. Portugal have kept moving through the Nations League without their captain; the next task is deciding whether player and coach can travel the same road again.
