Bruno Fernandes Speaks Out As Portugal Manager Pays The Price For Cristiano Ronaldo’s Decision
However, Fernandes appeared to show no ill feeling towards Santos for their failure in Qatar and penned an emotional tribute to Portugal’s most successful ever manager. “Many thanks to mister Fernando Santos. Thank you for the opportunity to represent our country and for your trust in us over the past few years,” he posted on social media.
“As a Portuguese, thank you for putting Portugal at the top of Europe and returning confidence and belief to a ‘small’ country that it was possible to be among the ‘big ones’.
“Moments of glory and joy and others of sadness and frustration, but history was made and will forever be marked in the hearts of all Portuguese.”
The United midfielder was one of the stars of Portugal’s campaign and easily outshone his former Old Trafford colleague. Fernandes was also forced to deny rumors of his fallout with Ronaldo after their frosty dressing room handshake went viral at the start of the tournament.
After the game with Morocco, he went on record to insist that the decision to drop Ronaldo wasn’t the reason for their exit. He said: “Maybe because he is who he is, people click more often on his news, to see what he is about.
“It was not for any of this that the Selection did not go further. We simply couldn’t beat Morocco.”
