Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo benched vs. Morocco

Cristiano Ronaldo will once again watch Portugal play a knockout round game in the World Cup from the bench.

After benching Ronaldo and seeing replacement Gonçalo Ramos run rampant against Switzerland in the Round of 16, Portugal manager Fernando Santos has kept Ramos in the starting 11 for the quarterfinal against Morocco in Qatar on Saturday.

Ronaldo was brought into the game for Rúben Neves on 51 minutes, quickly putting a shot on goal with Portugal trailing 1-0.

Ronaldo, who has become one of the sideshows of the tournament thanks to the revelation that Portugal — like Manchester United — just might be better without him,  Ahead of the Morocco game, Santos tried to quiet the noise around the global superstar after the team denied reports Ronaldo had asked to leave the club.

“I spoke to him after lunch the day of the [Switzerland] game and invited him into my office,” Santos said Friday. “For obvious reasons, Cristiano was not happy about it, as he has always been the starting player. He told me, ‘Do you really think it’s a good idea?’ But we had a normal conversation in which I explained my viewpoints and of course he accepted them. We had a frank and normal conversation.

“He has never told me he wanted to leave the national team and it’s high time we stopped with the conversation. He decided to warm up with his colleagues and celebrated all the goals we scored. At the end, he was the one who invited his colleagues to thank the fans.

“It’s high time to leave Cristiano Ronaldo alone. In every news conference, 90 percent of the questions are about Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Midfielder João Félix added that the coverage should focus on Portugal making the quarterfinal, as opposed to Ronaldo’s every move.

“Portugal is in a great competition,” he said. “We haven’t reached the quarterfinals for a long time. We should all be closer together and not try to make the atmosphere worse.”