YOU CAN'T DO THAT! 🗣️ Ale Moreno's warning to Cristiano Ronaldo amid Portugal ultimatum | ESPN FC

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Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal rift: ESPN FC panel says he is damaging his legacy and cannot walk away

The video discusses Cristiano Ronaldo's long social-media statement and his fallout with Jorge Jesus. The panel says Jesus would never publicly apologize on Ronaldo's terms, while Ronaldo's late-career behavior and exit are damaging his legacy; Ale Moreno insists that no grievance justifies leaving the national team and blames the Portuguese federation for making Ronaldo a kingmaker. The conclusion is that everyone got it wrong and the saga has gone on too long.

On ESPN FC, Alexis Nunes is joined by Steve Nicol, Ale Moreno, Frank Leboeuf and Mark Ogden to discuss the fallout between Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal manager Jorge Jesus and where the two sides go from here. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: https://plus.espn.com/ ESPN ESPNFC

Transcript

That is Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. Here's a look at a couple of the headlines in the Portuguese papers after Cristiano told his version of events on social media. Record says Ronaldo tells all. Aljoo says Ronaldo's truth. Abola says Ronaldo wants to return but blames Jesus. Coredo de Mana says I apologize to the Portuguese people and the one that wins it all. Jonaldo Noticia says, "Ronaldo asks for forgiveness but crucifies Jesus." >> Clever. Someone's keeping their job indeed. All right, we know it's been a messy situation. Frank, what do you make of it all? >> Well, first that was a a long long statement from Ronaldo. [laughter] Uh uh but uh you know what u I'm getting bored in a way that um again I said at the in the first place that I was very sad about the uh the way out of Cristiano Ronaldo and I was hoping that somehow there will be uh something done for him to come back and play like Messi uh last week a last game for for his national team but he wants to carry on. uh it will be another other and others episodes about that story and you know when I read it what what's uh struck me the most is the eight proposal that Jesus had to say publicly um to explain and again and kind of apologize to the world about what he did and I said nobody can do that nobody can say what Cristiano wanted him to to say or the agent of Cristiano or the it's impossible. Uh Jesus has an ego, as a personality, as a character, he would have never say what Cristiano wanted him to say. So it's why you we have that. I really hope that the Portuguese people will be happy with the fact that the national team keeps on winning that maybe Cristiano is going to come back and that J is going to keep his job and Ronaldo is going to play some games and be happy with that. But really, it's too long. I'm I'm a I'm I'm a bit I'm a bit fed up with that story. >> Agie, what did you think of it? >> I thought I thought it was quite sad really because listen, Ronaldo's given Portugal amazing service over the years and he has been one of the the greatest players we've ever seen and I think he's in danger of tarnishing his legacy now because I remember Ronaldo as a great play was in his 20s and his 30s at United, Real Madrid and with Portugal an amazing player but you know the tail end of his career is not ending well and I think this this kind of behavior is again not reflecting well on him. I think, you know, Gus has had the perfect opportunity now to say that's it. He's done. It should have happened two or three tournaments ago. Cristiano Ronaldo should have been at the last World Cup, maybe the Euros before that. He's no longer an asset to Portugal, but he needed a stronger coach than Roberto Martinez to deal with that. Now, this is it's been dealt with by Gus in not not in a great way. You know, I suppose Ronaldo does he deserve more respect in the way it's been dealt with perhaps, but that respect should have been shown in a different way in the summer to say, look, you've come to an end of your career. will give you a farewell game. It shouldn't have been indulged to car to carry on at the age of 41. He's 42 in February. You know, there comes an end for everybody, you know, and and Ronaldo should have thought, right, this is it. I've got out on a height. I woke up. Why carry on? He's only carrying on because he wants to score more goals. He wants to score, you know, have more appearances. It's all it's all about him. It's all a personal thing. It's not about the best of Portugal, the best for Portugal. It's all about him breaking more records, adding more goals to his talent. So, you know, take a backseat, Ronaldo. That's the end of it. Hopefully, like Frank said, it's gone on for too long. And I just think that he can't accept the fact that at 41, he's no longer the main stay of that team and the years have moved on and he needs to accept that he's no longer the guy that he used to be. >> And I mean, I get that because Cristiano did say that he was considering, you know, stepping down, but it was the manager, Ali, that called him back and said, "Look, you're still going to be an essential part of this. I need you back." And then he went back on his word, not once, not twice. So Stevie and Shaka both said that they actually kind of side with Cristiano Ronaldo in this. They would be ticked off as well. You was a former player, Ali. Wouldn't you be as well? >> Well, you're leading the witness is what you're doing there. >> I would have made a great lawyer. >> You're you're taking [laughter] me down a certain path. >> You've seen both sides. if your boss calls you back. >> All All I would say is whatever grievances Cristiano Ronaldo may have had, and apparently there were many given the uh the length of the statement. Um there's one thing that for me is a non-negotiable. He cannot leave. He cannot leave the national team. >> In leaving the national team, he creates a vacuum. a vacuum that then is filled by this by conversations from those of us that do not have a a direct access to the information and in that vacuum then you begin to speculate about Cristiano Ronaldo and if you are a believer that Cristiano Ronaldo just like Mark just mentioned that it's all about him this only exacerbates that because he comes across as well I'm not getting what I want I'm not getting what I was promised and so I'm leaving I'm taking my ball and I'm going home and you cannot leave Because you're not just leaving the Federation or the president of the Federation. You're not just leaving George Jesus. You're leaving your teammates. You're leaving your country. You're turning your back on your responsibility to represent your country. And you cannot do that. He may have valid arguments. He may have valid grievances. He may be upset about certain things that were promised to him and that were not delivered to him. But you cannot leave. You make that case by being with the team, not away from the team, not turning your back on the team. That's one part of the conversation. The other part of the conversation is this is as good an example as there is that you have to have separation between church and state. >> You cannot have a federation that goes to a player, however accomplished this player may be, an aging superstar, and consult with him and say, "Hey, are you okay with this manager? it. Is this a guy? Is this the right guy? Because in doing that, you then tell Cristiano Ronaldo that he has the power, that he is the kingmaker. And so therefore, everything has to go through him. All decisions must be made through him, that nothing happens without his authorization. And that goes as far as playing time, when he plays, when he doesn't play. He even said as much in his in the lengthy statement. And he said, "Well, I was told I was going to play the first game and the fourth game, and that's what uh I was preparing for, and that's what my body was preparing for, and then I was told to warm up." And and all of these are very normal things that you go and warm up, and maybe you go in, maybe you don't go in. But it's not normal when you have made Cristiano Ronaldo the kingmaker, the decision maker within the federation to say, "Yeah, George is the guy." And then now when George Jesus has turned his back on Ronaldo, then it feels like Ronaldo is now in a position in which he can raise his hand and say, "Uh, I'm Cristiano Ronaldo. You don't do this to me." And now I'm taking my ball and going home. That is the responsibility that I put on the Federation. The Federation has to make their own decisions regardless of the agent superstar. They have to make their decision as to what the future of the federation is going to be on the national team and what the project is going forward regardless of Cristiano Ronaldo. They made that connection and they then gave the power to Cristiano Ronaldo. And then you try to take that power back too late and this guy said I'm going home. He should have never left though. That's the main point for me. He should have never left the national team. >> Everybody's got it wrong, ain't they? I mean that's this whole thing. Everybody's got it wrong. >> But you still believe that Cristiano has reason to be upset. >> Yes. But you know, the federation shouldn't have been involved in speaking to Cristiano Ronaldo. Um, if it anybody, it should have been just the manager. So, they got that wrong. The managers completely got it wrong by telling him one thing and not doing it. >> And at the end of the day, Cristiano's got it wrong for putting himself in a position where this was always going to happen cuz he shouldn't have been playing. He he should have known. And [snorts] if he didn't and if he's that blind and he's not a stupid guy, somebody whether it's his family or his agent, somebody should have been telling look just after the World Cup, you should have which that would that would have killed every single thing. Yeah. >> But every one of them >> in some way, shape or form has got it completely wrong. >> But in him leaving in him leaving he comes across as a spoiled brat Stevie. >> Yeah. And he got that wrong as well. >> Yeah. Yeah. when you just do it all over the show. It's like, well, I'm just going to go on my private jet and I'm just going to leave. The whole the whole image of it all, the whole picture of it all, the the perception, the optics of it do not help Cristiano Ronaldo whatsoever. Whatsoever. And again, those that may have the perception of this guy that his career has been all about him, this only exacerbates this. This only accentuates that. If if you believe that coming into this conversation, then you go, you see how this guy behaved and then because this is just how life works, you see this behavior from Cristiano Ronaldo and a couple days later you see the love of the Argentina players with Messi and how he's being treated and you kind of go, well, see that's the difference between the two of them. If you had that perception coming into this conversation, that perception has now taken even more power. >> All right, we'll leave it at that then because you know what? But I love me a dramatic exit as well. >> Okay. Lucina. >> Exactly. You've seen it. >> Excuse me. Do you have a private jet? >> No. >> Okay. Well, >> no, I don't. I don't even have a business class ticket. Anyways, Mark Ogden loves a dramatic exit as well, so we're going to let him go now. A, I believe you'll be joining us on the show tomorrow as well. Plenty more to talk about. Oh, no. He won't be joining us on tomorrow's show. I may have just booked you without knowing there. [laughter] >> [music]