Bernardo Silva said he backs former Portugal manager Fernando Santos in dropping Cristiano Ronaldo at the World Cup, admitting that the rest of his international teammates were discussing the possibility during the tournament.
Manchester City star Bernardo was one of Portugal's key players in Qatar, as was Ronaldo during the group stages. However, Ronaldo came into the tournament having just ended his Manchester United career following a controversial interview where he criticised the club and said he had no respect for manager Erik Ten Hag.
That controversy, coupled with inconsistent form, meant that Ronaldo was in line to be replaced for Portugal's last-16 win over Switzerland, as Goncalo Ramos stepped in and scored an impressive hat-trick. Portugal would be knocked out in the quarter-finals by Morocco, with Ronaldo again starting on the bench.
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Ronaldo has since signed for Al-Nassr, and Bernardo has been reflecting on the events in Qatar and the contentious decision to drop Ronaldo to the bench in the knockout stages.
Speaking to Record, Bernardo admitted: "Between us we talked and asked 'could it be, would it not be?', because the players talk. But we only found out about the team in the locker room when we arrived at the stadium, two hours before the game.
"There are 26 players, too many for the coach to choose for each specific game. It never shocks me that he decides to go with one or the other. Right or wrong in the opinion of each one, the coach has the right to make the decisions he makes.'
However, while Bernardo also said that the squad had suspicions that Ronaldo could be benched after their training sessions, he also insisted that the interview which led to Ronaldo's departure from United had no impact on any selection decisions at the World Cup.
"Do you think that if Cristiano had not given the interview there would not have been so much focus on him?" he also asked.
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