After his controversial reaction to being substituted Cristiano Ronaldo has made a U-turn agreeing that substitution is an inevitable part of the game.
Ronaldo played down talk of a rift between himself and Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri after backing the decision to substitute him in back-to-back games.
The 34-year-old appeared incensed earlier this month when he was taken off by the Italian during the club’s 2-1 win over Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League, just days before he was removed during the Serie A holders’ victory against Milan.
Ronaldo’s frustrations were clear to see inside the RZD Arena, and tempers boiled over at the Allianz Stadium days later, when he reportedly labeled Sarri a ‘son of whore’ and left the ground before full-time after being replaced in the 55th minute.
Sarri spoke about the decisions and insisted that a persistent knee injury was behind the call to remove him from the action on both occasions.
And backing up his manager, Ronaldo admitted that he was not fully fit.
‘In the last three weeks I have been limited,’ he told reporters after Portugal’s 2-0 win over Luxembourg.
‘Everyone knows that I don’t like to be substituted, but there was no problem in my gestures after the change. I tried to help Juventus by playing injured.
‘No one likes to be replaced, but I understand it, because I wasn’t well in those two games. I wasn’t 100 per cent.’
Ronaldo helped his country qualify for Euro 2020 on Sunday, grabbing the second goal in a 2-0 win over Luxembourg that sealed their place in next year’s finals. The goal left him on 99 international goals, one shy of a landmark century.