Jorge Jesus breaks his silence on Cristiano Ronaldo's exit from Portugal

Portugal put together its first squad list without Cristiano Ronaldo in the picture, and as expected, every question in the press room circled back to the same subject. Jorge Jesus unveiled his roster for the UEFA Nations League matches against Denmark and Wales, but first he had to explain, once again, why the captain is no longer part of the squad.

On Thursday, Cristiano Ronaldo announced the end of his run with the national team. He departs with 234 appearances and 146 goals, both record marks in men's soccer. Those are numbers unlikely to ever be matched, which explains why the announcement rattled both the Portuguese locker room and the local press.

The backdrop hardly helped. Just a month earlier, the Portuguese Football Federation had suspended him for 30 days and fined him 255 euros after he left the team's training camp right before the Nations League match against Denmark on October 1, following a falling out with Jesus himself. Everything was set up for the exit that eventually came.

Jesus, asked about it this Friday, was direct: he doesn't feel responsible for the decision.

No; maybe I sped things up, but not through any fault of mine. It was something he already had in mind: whether he was being called up more or less often...Jorge Jesus

The coach added that the subject had already come up in previous conversations between the two of them. "We talked about it a couple of times, about whether this would end up happening. But no, I don't feel guilty about anything regarding his departure. I respect his decision," he said.

To understand how things got to this point, it's worth revisiting Ronaldo's final weeks in the Portugal jersey. His last match came on September 24, in the 1-0 win over Wales in Lisbon. Then, on October 4, in the 2-1 victory in Norway, he stayed on the bench without playing a single minute, something that hadn't happened to him in 18 years wearing the Portugal shirt. Even then, it was clear something was off.

One detail stands out: Ronaldo apologized to his teammates for leaving the training camp and made clear he wanted to keep playing for the national team. With Jesus, though, he didn't do the same.

A bond forged in Saudi Arabia

What's striking is that Jesus and Ronaldo are no strangers to each other: the coach managed the forward at Al Nassr before taking charge of the national team in July, following Portugal's round-of-16 exit at the 2026 World Cup. And he insists that, despite everything, he had planned to include him in this latest squad.

"I thought he would come back. Of course, I intended to call him up," Jesus admitted, also revealing that back in September, before the conflict broke out, he had already spoken with Ronaldo about his future with the team. "I asked him to stay with me because I needed him by my side," he said on Canal 11.

Beyond the abrupt ending, the coach had nothing but praise for his former player and former captain. "He felt this was the right moment to leave, and that's something that has to be respected. We can never overlook what he has meant for Portugal, what he has given this country, or the fact that he's a role model for the younger players."

Jesus, who last year guided Ronaldo to his first Saudi Pro League title with Al Nassr, went even further when discussing his legacy: "Cris is a global icon, a Portuguese icon and an icon of the national team." It's hard to argue otherwise: Ronaldo captained Portugal to the Euro 2016 title and to both UEFA Nations League crowns, in 2019 and in 2025.

Now, without his longtime captain, Jesus called up a squad featuring names like Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Dias, Joao Felix and Rafael Leao, among others, for the upcoming matches against Denmark and Wales. Portugal is now, officially, entering a new era.