Rúben Dias: “Cristiano Ronaldo is always in the spotlight, there is nothing new”

This Friday, Portuguese defender Rubén Dias downplayed the criticism received by forward Cristiano Ronaldo after the first match in the World Cup against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and described it as “just media noise” and “nothing new” because the Madeira player “is always in the spotlight.”

Portugal drew (1-1) with the African team last Wednesday and the veteran Portuguese player went quite unnoticed and former French striker Thierry Henry even declared to the ‘Fox’ network that he had been a liability for the team led by the Spanish Roberto Martínez.

“Cristiano receives a lot of attention and is always in the spotlight, this has been the case since I was in the national team and this will continue to be the case in the future. Therefore, there is nothing new, it is just media noise,” said Dias, central defender of English Manchester City, at a press conference held at the team’s concentration in Florida.

The defender stressed that “everyone” in the national team, “including Cristiano”, is already “accustomed to dealing with this media pressure.” “We know it from our clubs, from the national team, from the World Cups and from the European competitions,” he stressed.

The first press conference after the draw in the debut became almost a monologue, since Dias – winner of the Champions League, the Club World Cup and with 76 international matches under his belt – was asked almost exclusively about the former Real Madrid player.

“You disappoint me. I thought you were going to ask me something about the beach,” he joked with one of the journalists in relation to the ridicule they have received on social networks for apparently going too frequently to the beach or the pool of the hotel where they are staying.

For Dias, this “unnecessary agitation” and information that he described as “false” does not help, but he made it clear that he continues to believe in the team’s “shared dream” of winning its first world title. “No one can expect a tournament like this to develop perfectly from the beginning. I think the sooner the difficult phases come, the better,” he warned before facing the second Group K match against Uzbekistan on Tuesday.