Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t like being substituted by Maurizio Sarri, but admitted the Juventus manager was right to bring him off.
Prior to the international break, Ronaldo was replaced twice by Paulo Dybala against Milan in Serie A and in the Champions League during their 2-1 victory over Lokomotiv Moscow.
Images appeared to show Ronaldo heading down the tunnel looking far from impressed at the decision, but he has downplayed any suggestion of a problem.
“In the last three weeks I have been limited,” Ronaldo said, Portuguese newspaper, A Bola write.
“Everyone knows that I don’t like to be substituted, but there was no problem in my gestures after the change. I tried to help Juventus by playing injured.
“No one likes to be replaced, but I understand it, because I wasn’t well in those two games. I wasn’t 100 per cent.”
In the two matches since for Portugal, the Juventus forward scored his ninth international hat-trick, against Lithuania on Thursday, before scoring in a 2-0 win over Luxembourg.
He now has 99 goals for his country and is 10 behind Iran legend Ali Daei’s tally of 109 – the most at international level.
