Ronaldo's crisis meeting with Portugal

Portugal have won both games since Jorge Jesus took charge, beating Wales and then Norway in the Nations League. That's the kind of start that usually buys a manager total silence from the dressing room. Instead, according to Sky Sports, Ronaldo requested time with the coaching staff straight after the Norway win to address his role in the squad.

Sky Sports does not specify whether Ronaldo was left out of the squad entirely or named but unused against Norway. What is clear is that the conversation has been framed internally as serious enough to be called a crisis meeting, not a routine chat, and that it comes just days before Portugal face Denmark on Thursday.

A new coach, an old captain

Jorge Jesus inherited a Portugal side built for years around Ronaldo as the focal point. Two wins into the job, he's shown he's willing to make calls that put that arrangement under strain, whatever the exact call against Norway actually was. That's the tension here: a manager with early momentum, and a 40-year-old captain who has never quietly accepted a smaller role anywhere he's played.

None of this is new territory for Ronaldo. He's had versions of this conversation at Manchester United, at Al Nassr, and at previous Portugal camps whenever his usage has been questioned. What makes this one different is the timing. Jesus doesn't need Ronaldo's cooperation to justify the job so far, the results already do that. Which means this meeting was about something Ronaldo wanted resolved, not something the head coach needed to explain.

What it means before Denmark

How Jesus handles Thursday's team sheet will say more than the meeting itself. Start Ronaldo and it reads like the row's been smoothed over. Leave him out again, or restrict his minutes, and the 'crisis' label starts to look less like a one-off and more like a pattern.

Either way, Portugal's Nations League campaign is suddenly about more than results. It's a live test of whether Jesus is building a team that still runs through Ronaldo, or one that's quietly begun to move past him.