Bernardo Silva says Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial interview has not affected Portugal’s World Cup build-up.
Ronaldo is set to be sacked by Manchester United, following his bombshell interview in which he trashed the club and said he had no respect for boss Erik ten Hag. But Manchester City midfielder Bernardo insisted the controversy surrounding Ronaldo had not been a distraction to Portugal’s players ahead of the tournament.
“The news that comes from England has nothing to do with the national team, so I won’t say anything. It doesn't concern me, it concerns Cristiano,” said Bernardo. “I don’t have to comment.
“It’s a matter for Cristiano, I’m not a Manchester United player and even if I was I would not answer that, because we’re in the national team so I’m not going to talk about it.”
Asked about what seemed to be a tense exchange between Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes when the Portugal squad met up, Bernardo said: “I don’t see any weird environment between Cristiano and Bruno.
“It’s something that belongs to Cristiano. It’s a personal matter and I don’t see a big deal out of it. There’s no weird environment. It’s a shame we’ve only been talking about this when we have a World Cup to play. I don’t see a big issue.”
Portugal kick-off their World Cup campaign against Ghana on Thursday after winning a warm-up friendly against Nigeria 4-0 this past week, though Ronaldo was absent due to a stomach bug. They then face Uruguay and South Korea in Group H and are favourites to progress to the knockout stages.
Bernardo appeared to take umbrage with the questions continually circling back to Ronaldo. He continued: "It has nothing to do with the national team, it's his issue, it has nothing to do with me or the national team. It's a question about Cristiano, I'm not a Manchester United player, and even if I were, I wouldn't answer.
"I have nothing to do with that, we're in the national team, focused on our games. Not on Cristiano and not on his club. It's a situation with his club. I see him motivated and focused on the national team like all of us.
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"You only talk about it in press conferences when Portugal has a World Cup to play. I don't understand your persistence on this subject, because there is nothing."
On the same night as the win over Nigeria, the second part of Ronaldo's explosive interview with Piers Morgan aired on Talk TV, where he discussed whether he would still be at United following the tournament in Qatar.
“It's difficult to tell right now, it’s because, we, my mood is right now to The World Cup," Ronaldo said. "It's probably my last World Cup, of course, my fifth World Cup.
"I don't know what's gonna happen after the World Cup, but as I told you before, and I will say again, the fans will be always in my heart. And I hope they [will be] on my side, even if I back, or if I'm not back, or if I stay or whatever.
"Nobody's perfect. Episodes in the life we all have is part of the human beings, is part of me to be a human being and father as well. I always will commit mistakes.
"But I don't know, it's hard to tell right now what's going to happen to World Cup because my focus is for the World Cup, for the Portugal national team.”
Giving his thoughts on the potential winners, he named Brazil, Argentina, Spain and France as the main contenders, but also believes Portugal and England "have a chance". Assessing Portugal's bid, he said: “I am very optimistic. We have a fantastic coach, we have a good generation of football players.
"I'm looking forward that we're going to it an amazing World Cup… [It’s] gonna be tough. Extremely difficult. But everything is possible. But of course we're gonna compete.”
