Portugal coach: I deliberately did not push Ronaldo to start against Spain
Portugal coach Fernando Santos has defended his decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo from the starting line-up for their first Nations League match against Spain, saying he was confident the veteran striker could make an even bigger impact when he came on as a substitute.
He pointed out that he "deliberately did not pay it, mainly, for technical accounts."
Ronaldo, the record scorer for his country, participated in the 62nd minute, but he failed to find the net after Ricardo Horta scored the equalizer for Portugal to end the match with a score of 1-1.
"Cristiano Ronaldo? They often ask me why he starts the match. It's a million-dollar question. I realized that in this match it was better to push the players that I used to play," Santos said after yesterday's match.
Santos said Ronaldo's exclusion was not due to his level, after the 37-year-old had a strong season with Manchester United and scored 24 goals in all competitions.
"It was a technical and tactical choice for this match. It seemed to us that this was the best solution, the best for the way we wanted to play and approach the match. It has nothing to do with Cristiano's performance, it is not in question," he said.
"There are moments in the match that you have to think about. in a different way.
We thought he could play in the second half and win the match for us."
Alvaro Morata gave Spain the lead in Seville, but the hosts failed to take advantage of their chances in the second half and Jordi Alba missed a chance in the last minutes to snatch the victory.
Portugal will play in the next match against Switzerland on Sunday, while Spain will travel to Prague to face the Czech Republic.
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