Jorge Jesus challenges CR7: "I don't apologize to anyone. For what? To whom? He will decide"

Jorge Jesus may be speaking from a position of strength at the end of his fourth victory in four games in the Nations League, at the beginning of his adventure on the bench of Portugal. But he also knows that strong positions are worth a certain amount when it comes to myths, even deities, such as Cristiano Ronaldo in his homeland. So, when he goes to the press conference after the 2-1 victory of the Lusitanian national team over Norway (again scored by the Milan player Gonçalo Ramos, going to three goals in the last three games), the 72-year-old coach uses a lot of "carrot", while still maintaining a few points: the inviolability of his decisions on the bench and the fact that he does not have to apologize to anyone.

The latter was clearly a response to the words of Ronaldo's friend, Edu Aguirre, who had called Jorge Jesus a "traitor", indicating that he had apologized to Cristiano Ronaldo in the hotel after being sent off in the first match in Norway and had promised to do the same in the press conference before the match with Denmark, only to say something completely different and cause the five-time Ballon d'Or winner to be indignantly "left" by the Portugal squad.

"What exactly happened with Ronaldo? I'm not apologizing to anyone," Jorge Jesus replied to a direct question in the conference room after the victory over Norway at the Dragao. "The problem that caused all this was the fact that the player was warming up. I take responsibility for the decision and for what happened. But apologizing for what? To whom? That's a lie. Apologizing for what? What would be the reason for apologizing?"

The CR7 issue: he must take responsibility for leaving Portugal

The bulk of the conference, however, is an outstretched hand to the 41-year-old striker to change his stance and accept the upcoming training camp – already announced for him, and not a suspension as was foreseen and as would most likely have happened to any other footballer – for the last two matches of the Nations League group stage, which will take place on November 14 (in Braga, against Denmark) and the 17th (in Wales).

If Ronaldo wants to leave the Portuguese national team permanently, then he must take this step himself, taking full responsibility. Neither the coach nor the Portuguese Football Federation will ever say goodbye to him. The federation's president, Pedro Proença, was clear about this on Sunday evening: "We will have time and calm to sit down together and resolve what was a misunderstanding. Cristiano Ronaldo is part of our heritage and will always be here if the coach wants him."

Jesus cynical about the future: "If he wants it, it will be, the decision is up to him"

These are, therefore, the words of the coach on the issue of CR7's return or not to the national team: "I don't know what Cris can decide. What I had to say, I have already said, but I will add one more thing. For me, from the beginning, it has never been an 'issue'. It has been a dynamic that I considered normal for a coach. Having a player who represents the symbol that he is for the country and for the national team... There are principles of the coach that are non-negotiable, but since there has been nothing extraordinary that has violated my authority, for me Cris, in the next training camp – if he plays with Al Nassr – will be a player that can be called up if he wants to return to the national team. It is only because he was that there was created – and perhaps rightly so, because he is a symbol – all this noise about entering the game, warming up, not being activated. How many players today (against Norway, ed.) warmed up and did not enter the game? Will there be a problem? No. With Cris it is different, "He is the symbol. But is it a problem? For me it has not been. If Cris wants and will play with Al Nassr, in the next training camp he will be. We have spoken before this training camp and we can speak before the next one. But it will be Cris who will decide."

In short, Jorge Jesus does not want to be held responsible for Ronaldo's final retirement from the national team and is ready to bring him back, so that the best footballer in the history of Portugal can end his international career in a way worthy of what he represents and what he has achieved with the Lusitanian shirt. Now the ball is in CR7's court: he usually makes no mistakes. We will know in a month.