Bruno Fernandes: “If the manager put me on the bench, I would be angry”

"Do you think anyone likes to be on the bench?"

Bruno Fernandes has came out in defence of Cristiano Ronaldo, and admits that he too would be angry if he was benched by the manager. Ronaldo was dropped by Fernando Santos in Portugal's last 16 tie against Switzerland, making it the first time he has ever been on the bench at a World Cup. The captain's replacement in the forward line was Goncalo Ramos, a young 21-year-old yet to make his debut in the knockout stages, and what a debut it was. A hat-trick from the Benfica star means that he has already accumulated more goals in the knockout rounds than Ronaldo has in the five World Cups he has played previously. Fernandes, a teammate of Ronaldo at both Portugal and Manchester United has come to the defence of his captain, stating that nobody likes to be bench.

"Do you think anyone likes to be on the bench?" Fernandes said. "I don't think Cristiano would be happy. If the manager put me on the bench in the next game, I would be angry."

"We won the first two games with Cristiano in the first 11, and it could be that if Cristiano played, he could score three goals and no one would be speaking about Cristiano being on the bench. "Cristiano is doing his job, he's doing his part, he's happy with the result because the goal for everyone is to go as far as possible. "I don't think people should be talking about Cristiano and why he's not playing, because when Cristiano plays and the team wins, no one talks about that.

"When Cristiano plays and the team loses, everyone talks.[He is] the most famous player in the world. No one is more famous than Cristiano in sports, not in football, in sports."

Ronaldo was substituted in Portugal's loss to South Korea and visibly demonstrated his frustration at the decision, something which did not go unnoticed by the manager. Although Santos has since said that the decision to keeper his star man on the bench was purely "tactical" it is also viewed as a form of punishment for Ronaldo's petulance. Related links: 

• Gary Neville sticks up for Ronaldo as contextless pictures and videos taken as gospel
• Jamie Carragher shares theory about why Portugal dropped Ronaldo
• Gary Neville reacts to Cristiano Ronaldo's omission from Portugal starting XI