Prior to Portugal's World Cup campaign, Ruben Neves made an effort to downplay the media hype around Cristiano Ronaldo's spectacular interview with Piers Morgan.
Ronaldo, 37, has criticised several people, including Gary Neville, Erik ten Hag, and Ralf Rangnick, and has levelled numerous accusations against his current employers, Manchester United. Even Wayne Rooney's retirement and appearance were questioned by him.
Just one week before the World Cup's first game in Qatar, Ronaldo delivered some bombshells, and since then, he has dominated the news. Numerous detractors assert that this has hurt Portugal's preparations, but Neves claims such is not the case.
In response to a question on Ronaldo's interview, Neves stated that there was no dispute inside the locker room. Therefore, since there is no controversy inside the changing room, we have no need to be concerned about any potential effects of that controversy.
"The changing room is not where this debate resides; it is in the media. Everything has been said. Our World Cup campaign has our full attention. The national team has a wonderful atmosphere. Our attention is on that.
Following Ronaldo's remarks, some journalists feared that there would be some unrest inside the Portugal team. The United team also includes Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes, with the latter and Ronaldo appearing to have an unpleasant interaction earlier this week.
Since his debut 19 years ago, Ronaldo has established himself as one of Portugal's most valuable players, earning an incredible 191 senior caps. With 117 goals scored to date, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner leads all men's international goal scorers.
Ronaldo, who was a member of the team that won the Euro 2016 and the Nations League in 2019, has led Portugal to unheard-of glory. The forward also assisted Portugal in advancing to the host nation's Euro 2004 championship game, where they infamously fell to Greece.
Neves continued, "From what I have seen in training, he is in phenomenal form," in reference to Ronaldo. Therefore, we have no need to be concerned about this. We are fully aware that in order to maximise the potential of each person, we must work as a team. Cristiano is not an exception. Cristiano will be incredible if we play well.
Fernandes also reacted to Ronaldo's remarks and their chilly handshake with their teammate for both the club and the international level. I didn't read the interview, so I'm fine with it, he said, according to Sky Sports. As I've previously stated, Portugal is currently the national team.
I told him that the coach had stressed that it was us. Since I joined the national team in 2017, he brought up this argument. He still understands that the national team and us are the most important thing here, therefore we must concentrate on the World Cup because the opportunity to compete in a World Cup does not arise frequently.
"Cristiano was fortunate to play and performed admirably to play five times. His fifth World Cup appearance will be this one. Everyone is prepared for that and wants to offer their best effort for the team, thus
