Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus has revealed that he was unaware of Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to retire from international football until the announcement was made public.
The 41-year-old forward announced his retirement in an Instagram video on Thursday, a day before Jesus was scheduled to unveil his squad for this month’s Nations League fixtures.
speaking at a news conference on Friday, Jesus said Ronaldo had not informed him of his decision and was still among the players he intended to select.
“I found out when we all did. Until then, I knew nothing about it,” Jesus said.He was playing, he was scoring goals; he was one of the players on my squad list.”
Ronaldo became available for selection again after serving a 30-day suspension from international duty, although the suspension did not cover any national team matches.
The Al-Nassr forward had left Portugal’s camp in September after being informed that he would not start the Nations League match against Denmark four days later.