Ex-Liverpool man praises Portugal boss for putting Ronaldo on the ‘f***ing bench’ in expletive-ridden rant
Former Liverpool defender Jose Enrique has heaped praise on Portugal boss Fernando Santos for putting Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench against Switzerland.
The former Manchester United striker was dropped by Santos for their 6-1 victory over Switzerland in the last 16 of the World Cup after reacting angrily to being subbed off in their last match against South Korea.
Ronaldo claimed at the time he was annoyed at something one of the South Korean players said to him but it appears that he was dropped because of his petulance.
His replacement, Goncalo Ramos, knocked in a hat-trick as Portugal coasted through to the quarter-finals where they will face Morocco on Saturday.
Ronaldo has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons over recent months with the 37-year-old giving a controversial interview to Piers Morgan after failing to get his move away from Manchester United last summer.
And former Liverpool defender Enrique has said on a number of occasions that he doesn’t like Ronaldo – who has now left Man Utd – including when the Portuguese striker snubbed a handshake from Jamie Carragher.
“The disrespect here from Cristiano to Carra isn’t right.” Enrique said in August.
“Keane and Gary, they’ve been killing him on Sky Sports as well so I’m sure it’s not because of that.
“But someone that’s played football for that long and made so many appearances for Liverpool, at least you can say ‘hi’ out of respect.
“Another thing why I will never like Cristiano Ronaldo and when football finishes, let’s see who he will have around being like this.”
Prior to that, Enrique had also hit out at Ronaldo after he appeared to smash a phone out of a young Everton fan’s hand in April as he walked off the pitch at Goodison Park.
“I always said it. Don’t like him he believes [he] is God and can do whatever he wants,” Enrique posted on Twitter.
“That doesn’t take [away] that [he] is been one of the best players in the history of football but as a person [I] don’t like him.”
Enrique, who has received criticism from Ronaldo super fans, was happy to see the striker dropped by Portugal boss Santos on Tuesday night.
He posted on Instagram: “I have to say well done to the Portugal coach. Finally someone has put their b***s on the table and said ‘you p***ed me off the other day, you’re on the f***ing bench now’.
“The problem he has is a big one because if they lose, they are going to blame him for not playing Ronaldo. But from my opinion, well done here. Now all the haters, who love Cristiano. Let me know your excuse now to defend him. Well done mate.”
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