Elma Aveiro, Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister, criticised Fernando Santos on social media for leaving her brother on the bench during Tuesday night’s 6-1 World Cup victory over Switzerland.
Aveiro hit out at Santos, claiming that he was humiliating Ronaldo.
According to her, Santos left the former Manchester United forward out of his starting lineup against Switzerland for an unknown reason.
Goncalo Ramos’ hat-trick and Portugal’s victory over Switzerland suggested that they did not need Cristiano Ronaldo.
Aveiro took to her Instagram story to share her outburst at Santos’ decision to leave out the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“Today we are all together, if you think it has to be like this, I am here to see it,” Aveiro began, posting an image of the Portugal team before the kick-off.
This was then followed by a screenshot of a reaction from one of her followers declaring that they could not ‘believe’ the coach’s decision to leave out Ronaldo against Switzerland, with Aveiro claiming: “I don’t know why and I don’t understand it, but I am sure we will have the answers from God later, he doesn’t fail, let’s see.”
Ronaldo eventually came off the bench in the 73rd minute when Portugal was already 5-1 up.
After the end of the match, Aveiro congratulated Portugal on their decisive performance before then rekindling her scathing criticisms of Santos’ decision.
“Yes, Ronaldo is not eternal, yes Ronaldo won’t play forever. Unfortunately, he doesn’t score goals now. He is old. Portugal doesn’t need Ronaldo,” she added.
“We talked about what we heard, all that he did is not important, all that he did was forgotten.
“Now they ask for forgiveness and they don’t need him. I will register that and later, we will talk.
“Rui Santos, what will he apologise for? Now we can f*** who we want.
“It is a shame to humiliate a man who has given so much, but later I will see a lot more.”
Santos has since insisted that his decision not to start Ronaldo against Switzerland was ‘strategic.’