Cristiano Ronaldo is missing from the Portugal squad for their upcoming matches against Hungary and Poland.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a world-class footballer, but he’s not always at his best. The Portuguese superstar has been dropped from the national team after failing to make an impact in the country’s first two games of Euro 2020 qualifying. The Real Madrid star has also been charged with alleged tax fraud, which could land him in jail for up to nine years if found guilty. So why is Cristiano Ronaldo not playing today?
Why isn’t Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Portugal?
Ronaldo was absent from Portugal’s 2-1 win over Poland on October 11th and their 1-0 loss to Ukraine on October 15th. The country’s coach Fernando Santos explained that he made the decision to drop Ronaldo after watching his performance in the game against Ukraine. “I had a conversation with him and I told him that I was not happy with his performance, especially as a captain of this team, because we are talking about a team that needs unity, solidarity and togetherness,” Santos said (via ESPN). “I told him that he needed to be better than what he showed against Ukraine.”
Ronaldo has also been linked to an ongoing investigation into tax fraud allegations worth €14 million (£12m). He was accused of hiding income made from image rights between 2011 and 2014 using offshore companies based in Ireland, which led to Spain’s tax agency opening an investigation into allegations of three counts of tax fraud worth €14m (£12m) last year (via BBC). It’s still unclear whether or not Ronaldo will be found guilty or if this will affect his football career in any way.
