On Monday Jesus defends Ronaldo, claiming warm-up row blown out of proportion
Piers Morgan has slammed Portugal coach Jorge Jesus over disrespecting Cristiano Ronaldo in a recent post and called him “Portuguese Ten Hag” in a row.
Morgan’s criticism comes in response to Jesus’ extension of an olive branch to Ronaldo after he left the camp.
Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus has dismissed the controversy surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo remaining an unused substitute during the national team's recent 2-1 victory over Norway.
Speaking on Monday, Jesus attributed the fuss to Ronaldo's iconic status, emphasizing that the minor incident has had no negative impact on their professional relationship.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano on X, Jesus said, “In my opinion, you can’t hold a one-year friendship against someone over a situation that is difficult to understand.”
He added, “Just because it was him. Just because it was him, and perhaps rightly so, because he is a symbol, this whole issue of warming up and not warming up, coming on and not coming on, has been created.”
“How many players warmed up today and didn’t come on? How many? Is there going to be a problem with any of them? No,” he said.
In response to these remarks, Morgan wrote on X, “This guy [Jesus] is the Portuguese Ten Hag… wants to make a name for himself being the big tough guy by trying to humiliate Cristiano with shocking disrespect.”
The renowned broadcaster also vowed to “deal with him (from a very well-informed perspective ) on tonight’s episode of Football Uncensored.”
Last week, Ronaldo left the Portugal national team setup following a reported disagreement with head coach Jorge Jesus regarding his role and being benched during international fixtures.