Fernando Santos fired by Portugal after Ronaldo World Cup drama

Portugal’s dramatic 2022 World Cup run has been punctuated with their head coach being ousted. 

Fernando Santos stepped down on Thursday after Portugal was eliminated by Morocco, 1-0, in the World Cup quarterfinals Saturday, the second straight game in which Cristiano Ronaldo was not in the starting lineup. 

Santos, 68, took over as Portugal’s coach following the 2014 World Cup after the team fired Paulo Bento. Santos coached Greece from 2010-14. 

In 2016, Santos led Portugal to a UEFA European Championship title, the country’s first major international trophy. Portugal was then eliminated by Uruguay in the Round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup. 

Ronaldo cast a cloud over Portugal’s 2022 World Cup campaign as his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, in which he ripped his club Manchester United, aired just before he reported to Qatar. United quickly rid itself of Ronaldo, whose free-agent status was the subject of rumors throughout the tournament. He reportedly was considering a bid from Saudi club Al Nassr for roughly $210 million a year; he was also spotted training at Real Madrid’s practice facility on Wednesday. 

Unhappy with Ronaldo’s reaction to being subbed off in Portugal’s final group stage game against South Korea, and with the superstar not in top form, Santos took the 37-year-old out of the starting lineup for the team’s Round of 16 matchup against Switzerland. Ronaldo’s replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored a hat trick in the team’s 6-1 win. 

In an emotional video message, Santos said that being Portugal’s coach was a “dream come true” and a “life goal” he fulfilled. 

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“When you lead groups, you have to make some difficult decisions,” he added. “It’s normal that not everyone was happy with the choices I made but the decisions I took were always thinking about what would be best for our team.” 

— With Post wires