The main star or the reason for the failure: what awaits Cristiano Ronaldo after a scandalous interview on the eve of the 2022 World Cup

Less than a week before the start of the World Cup, a bombshell event occurred.

Cristiano Ronaldo gave a scandalous interview to The Sun newspaper, in which he spoke harshly about the leadership of Manchester United, coaches Eric Ten Hague and Ralph Rangnick, former teammates Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville, and to top it off, he actually announced his departure from the club.

And although the striker's statements mainly related to the current situation in the camp of the "Red Devils", they have already directly or indirectly influenced the state of affairs in the Portuguese national team, and subsequently can lead either to its successful performance or to failure in Qatar.

The decision to publish an interview immediately before the World Cup may have several reasons at once.

Perhaps Ronaldo was determined to leave Manchester United and wanted to take the burden off his soul before the most important tournament of four years, which could be his last in a national team shirt.

Perhaps the reason for this is the desire to motivate himself before the championship and at the same time give a signal to potential employers that he is open to negotiations and ready to join a new team in the winter.

Although major international forums have long ceased to be the only opportunity to showcase their talents and attract the attention of potential buyers, for Cristiano this can really be a great chance to remind himself again and end the competitive year as part of the grand.

Success at the 2022 World Cup will make it clear that Ronaldo is still competitive at the highest level, and his failure in the first half of the season at Manchester United is due not to his decline, but to other factors.

In 16 matches in all competitions, the striker has scored just three goals, which has not happened to him since his first visit to Old Trafford.

True, then Cristiano had not yet managed to strengthen himself in the status of a top scorer, he mainly played the role of a winger and tried to play along with his partners more often than to complete attacks.

But if you dig deeper, then he had not so many chances.

Leaving aside the Europa League, which is not of global importance for the Manchester United, the Portuguese only four times went to the base, and in five meetings he received less than 45 minutes of playing time.

In such conditions, it is not easy for any forward to show himself.

And for such an athlete, this must have been a serious blow.

Especially against the background of Erik ten Hag's statements about the intention to build a team around his main star.

In many ways, this is what caused dissatisfaction on the part of Ronaldo, which he admitted to Piers Morgan.

As he said, in a personal conversation, the Dutch specialist promised him one thing, but subsequently did not keep his word.

Undoubtedly, the Portuguese himself also did not behave very nicely: with a deliberately gloomy look, he watched the game of partners from the bench, left the stadium after the replacement.

And it does not paint the star forward.

But if everything really happened as he says in reality, then he can also be understood.

One way or another, in the story of Ronaldo's second arrival at Manchester United, one can most likely put an end to it.

Another thing is the World Cup, to which Portugal brought one of the strongest teams in the last decades, if not in history.

Fernando Santos has three high-quality goalkeepers at once, in defense there are star Ruben Dias and Joao Cancelo, in the middle line - Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, and in the attacking line - Rafael Leau and Joao Felix.

And this is not counting a number of high-quality performers who are able to "carry the piano" behind the recognized masters.

However, the situation around Cristiano can have an extremely negative impact on the prospects of Portugal in the tournament.

It can already be assumed that his interview touched not only the bosses of Manchester United, who had already begun negotiations on breaking the contract, but also partners in the club and the national team.

In particular, the same Fernandes, who greeted Ronaldo very coldly during a meeting in the locker room.

Although Bruno shook his hand, to the bewilderment of his compatriot, he immediately turned his back on him.

Of course, it is difficult to judge from one short video fragment how tense relations have become in the locker room of the Portuguese.

According to the former midfielder of Lokomotiv, Joao Mario, he did not treat the leader of the national team differently, and the pressure on the team and the striker himself did not increase.

But the case with Fernandes served as a wake-up call and a possible harbinger of a serious conflict within the team.

Let the same Mariu try to assure that there is no tension between the stars.

Of course, one should not exclude the option in which disagreements fade into the background, and Ronaldo himself will “bloom” and, on emotions, will hold the best world championship in his career.

What happened in Manchester United will certainly give him additional motivation and force him to give everything 110% in Qatar.

And with the support of partners, the player of his talent may be enough to turn into one of the main protagonists of the championship.

At least in the group stage, where Portugal will face Uruguay, South Korea and Ghana.

In the confrontation with the first, Cristiano will be doubly charged, because four years ago it was Edinson Cavani and the company that did not allow him to break into the quarterfinals, and the rest are clearly inferior in class to the victors of Euro 2016.

Only in these two matches he is able to ship three or four goals and become one of the contenders for the Golden Boot.

If Ronaldo himself holds the tournament of life, and Portugal reaches the semi-finals for the first time in 16 years, then Ronaldo's behavior can be called justified.

He himself will be forgiven for his excessive impulsiveness and harshness, and clubs may express a desire to accept him as a free agent.

But there is another scenario that threatens the team with colossal problems, which Santos is unlikely to be able to solve.

Suppose Ronaldo does not improve and continues to perform as faded as he did in the Premier League.

What will the head coach do?

Will he be able to go up against the most popular footballer of our time and put him on the bench, and at the same time frame it in such a way that history does not repeat itself at Manchester United?

Indeed, otherwise the atmosphere in the locker room runs the risk of becoming extremely tense.

Despite everything, Cristiano remains the most respected player in the national team and will certainly be able to enlist the support of a number of partners.

And this can turn into a riot and part-time one of the biggest scandals in the history of the world championships.

The only question is how much influence Ronaldo has on other players in Portugal.

The case of Fernandes may well be evidence that if it has not weakened completely, then it has noticeably decreased.

And in this case, other athletes may well not support him in a possible conflict and take the side of the coach.

And then Santos will either find a common language with the striker, or use the experience of George Yartsev.

In 2004, at that time, the head coach of the Russian national team took an unprecedented step and, during the European Championship, he expelled Alexander Mostovoy from the star team.

And although this did not allow her to overcome the group stage, it could save her from the emergence of an even sharper confrontation.