AL SHAHANIYA, Qatar — Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva tried his best to say all the right things. Speaking at Portugal’s first news conference since arriving in Qatar, and in front of a packed media tent at the Al Shahaniya Sports Club, the Manchester City star had to insist more than once that the fall-out from Cristiano Ronaldo‘s bombshell interview with Piers Morgan, which has led to a “mutual” termination of his contract with Manchester United, is not causing a distraction ahead of their World Cup campaign. Eventually, though, the mask slipped.
“I don’t understand your persistence on this subject because there is nothing,” Silva said, wearing the expression of a man who had long since grown tired of the questions. “It is a shame to be talking about this Cristiano situation when we have a World Cup to play.”
It was the same for Ruben Neves when he spoke the following day, with the Wolves midfielder wanting to offer nothing more than his opinion that Ronaldo is in “phenomenal shape.”
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The interest around the 37-year-old striker has been such that when Silva arrived to talk, around 50 camera crews — all pushing and shoving in an attempt to gain access — had to be kept outside. It’s traditional for captains to speak at prematch news conferences 24 hours before games, but Portugal decided to sneak Ronaldo in early on Monday morning instead, without telling the assembled media in Qatar, in an effort to avoid some of the media glare.
It was telling that one of the first things out his mouth was a plea to journalists to stop asking his teammates about the interview and the furore it’s caused. “Please, don’t ask players about me, ask about the World Cup,” he said. “I talk when I want to.”
This, though, is precisely the problem.
