Bruno Fernandes, the star of the controversial greeting to Cristiano who now hugs him in Qatar 2022

After the beautiful center with chamfer towards the arc that gave Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo he jumps with all his might and makes the gesture of combing the ball. It is a goal for Portugal against Uruguay (finished 2-0) for date 2 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup and the Portuguese runs out to celebrate. But does not make any characteristic celebration to what we got used to as the “Siiiu!” or the “Here I am!”but goes to hug the author of the pass that he later confirmed as the author of the goal.

It is the 52nd minute of the game and in Portugal everything seems to be happiness. They are winning their second match at the World Cup and securing their ticket to the round of 16. They are the third team to do so, after Brazil (beat Switzerland 1-0 with a great goal from Casemiro) Y France (2-1 vs Denmark). Gone seems to have been all the controversies and rumors that were installed in the previous competition.

The Portuguese, at that time, did not give so much importance to the gesture of CR7 with Bruno Fernandes. From the captain to one of his best players. From the idol to the boy who dreamed of being like him. Of those who until a few weeks ago were ex-colleagues in the Manchester Utdthe English club that decided to release Cristiano and make him the only footballer who is in Qatar and does not have a team.

But that doesn’t matter to ‘CR7’, the captain of a Portugal which enjoys names like RUben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Nuno Mendez, Joao Feliz, Rafael Leao and the incomparable Bruno Y Christian. In other words, a candidate team to lift the trophy on December 18. And the victory against Uruguay is one more example of what they can do as a team.

But beyond that, or the other goal that Fernandes scored from a penalty in the last minutes, what will surely be talked about is the hug between him and Cristiano as a symbol of good times. But in recent days, that friendship I had was supposedly faltering, all because of a video in which they greet each other coldly.

The greeting between Cristiano and Bruno: was it a joke?

Christian came to Qatar amid the noise that his interview with the English newspaper “The Sun” had generated, in which he spoke about everything, with an open heart, and left Manchester United, a club where his friend and compatriot, Bruno Fernandes, is the captain, in a bad light.

In those tense days leading up to the World Cup Then, the striker stands perplexed as the midfielder says a few words to him that he couldn’t hear.

The clip went around the world and there was talk of a broken relationship between the then teammates and the selection. Even from an intern in Portugal that was not enough, that it was unsustainable. However, Fernandes himself came out to deny everything.

“It was a joke that was misinterpreted, we laughed among ourselves. I don’t have a problem with anyone.”declared after a 4-0 victory against Nigeria in the last friendly before the World Cup debut against Ghana.

“I was watching one of the channels. They were talking about it, if it was cold or bad… About 45 minutes. Suddenly they go to commercials. The selection sends the audio. The audio says he’s joking with me.If they go back they will see it as a problem, but if they explain the truth of that video, if they explain what is happening in the video, people will understand it, but now they don’t know anymore.”he added, explaining that the image between him and Cristiano, upon arrival at the concentration, was misinterpreted because it was published without sound.

In Portugal There is no more talk about the alleged internal problems, only the qualification to the round of 16 is celebrated in a group that was difficult but that they knew how to overcome in just two games, demonstrating that they have what to be excited about in the World Cup, the last of Cristiano Ronaldo .

—-