Portugal’s Nations League campaign moved on in Lisbon with a 2-1 win over Norway, but the discussion around the squad still runs through Madrid, where Cristiano Ronaldo has been since leaving the national-team camp.
Jorge Jesus’s side remain top of League A Group 4 after four matches, with 12 points and a perfect record. Yet the coach’s comments after Sunday’s result made clear that Ronaldo’s possible return remains dependent on a direct resolution between player and manager.
Quick facts
- Portugal beat Norway 2-1 in the fourth round of the 2026 UEFA Nations League.
- The Portuguese lead Group A4 on 12 points, having won all four games.
- Ronaldo left the camp during the international window and is currently in Madrid.
- The Portuguese Football Federation wants Ronaldo and Jorge Jesus to meet to settle their disagreement.
- Jesus has indicated that Ronaldo can return if he is playing for his club and wishes to represent Portugal.
Jesus said the situation was still open and suggested that the disagreement should not be difficult to settle. He stressed that Ronaldo must decide his own plans before the next call-up, while adding that the forward would be welcome if he wants to play for the national side.
The federation signalled on Friday that it wanted a meeting between the two men. Jesus is reported to have accepted that idea, leaving Ronaldo’s willingness to sit down with the coach as the outstanding issue.
Ronaldo has made no public comments to reporters since departing the Portugal group. His only communication during the period has come through social media, where he also liked a post by former Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo that criticised Ronaldo’s Portugal teammates. Felipe Melo later said his support in the dispute lay firmly with Ronaldo.
The tension began at the start of the Nations League, in Jesus’s first game in charge against Wales. Ronaldo started and played 67 minutes, one day after the new coach had praised him publicly as a symbol of Portugal while making clear that team selection would be decided by the coaching staff.
Jesus and Ronaldo had previously worked together for a year at Al-Nassr. Their relationship came under scrutiny in the Norway match, when Ronaldo was named among the substitutes and Gonçalo Ramos started in his place.
Ronaldo joined the other substitutes in warming up shortly after half-time. Jesus had considered bringing him on for 20 to 30 minutes, but said the course of the game altered his plan; Ramos stayed on and scored the goal that secured Portugal’s away victory.
At full time, Ronaldo left the pitch immediately and appeared unhappy. He then missed Tuesday training, prompting competing accounts in Portugal about the state of the relationship.
The president of the Portuguese Football Federation visited the team’s base on Wednesday in an effort to calm the situation. Reports said he met both Jesus and Ronaldo, and that the discussion had gone well.
However, the issue resurfaced when Jesus faced the media. He initially intended to take only two questions about Ronaldo but ultimately answered six, denying there was a serious dispute while admitting that sending the captain to warm up so early had been his mistake.
Jesus also repeated that Ronaldo’s standing in Portuguese football does not alter the manager’s authority over selection. He expected the forward to train with the group, and had planned to start Ramos again, but Ronaldo left Parken Stadium before the session began and announced online that he was leaving the camp.
His departure brought a fresh uncertainty to Portugal’s next squad announcement. For now, the leaders of Group A4 continue without their captain, while the federation seeks the meeting that could reopen the door.
