Writing on social media, Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister Katia Aveiro has asked her brother to leave Portugal’s World Cup squad and come home from Qatar after he was benched by Portuguese coach Fernando Santos.
Aveiro left a long message on social media supporting Ronaldo while suggesting those fans who criticised the 37-year-old free agent after he was left out for his country’s 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland in the last 16 are ungrateful, given Ronaldo’s past contribution to the national team.
Aveiro’s Instagram story read: “I asked him so much to leave… Without looking back. No more fighting. No more suffering. He lowered his head, he thought about how much he has already done and how much he has achieved… and he stayed.” Later Aveiro published a longer message, saying: “I really wanted him to come home, leave the national team and sit next to us so we could hug him and tell him that everything is fine, remind him of what he’s achieved and where he came from, I really wanted him not to go on anymore, we’ve suffered enough.”
Ronaldo’s replacement Gonçalo Ramos scored a hat-trick in the 6-1 win over the Swiss and Portugal will now face Morocco in the quarter-finals.
GWFN
