Portugal have released a statement to respond to claims in the press that Cristiano Ronaldo “threatened to leave the national team.

Ronaldo appeared to react angrily to being substituted in Portugal’s loss to South Korea in their final Group H match, despite the former Manchester United striker claiming he was annoyed at something an opposition player had said to him.

Fernando Santos then dropped Ronaldo for their last-16 match against Switzerland, with the striker’s replacement, Goncalo Ramos, netting a hat-trick in a 6-1 win on Tuesday, December 6.

Santos admitted after the clash with South Korea that he didn’t like Ronaldo’s reaction to coming off, with Portuguese channel CMTV insisting that the 37-year-old said to the Portugal coach: “You’re in a f*cking hurry to take me off."

Additionally, Ronaldo allegedly had a fight with Santos and asked to leave the national team setup because he was so furious about being overlooked against Switzerland, according to the Portuguese newspaper Record.

In contrast, Portugal's football association has since issued a statement denying those allegations in advance of their quarterfinal matchup with Morocco on Saturday.

According to news stories published on Thursday, Fernando Santos, the national team's coach, was approached by Cristiano Ronaldo who allegedly threatened to quit. The FPF wants to make it clear that during the tournament in Qatar, national team captain Cristiano Ronaldo never made a threat to quit the team.

“Cristiano Ronaldo continues to build on his unique record of service to the national team, which should be respected and which attests to his unquestionable degree of commitment to the national team.”

The statement added: “The national team—players, coaches, and the FPF structure—are fully committed and enthusiastic, as has been the case since day one, to building what we hope will be Portugal’s best-ever World Cup.”