Fernando Santos reveals 'frank conversation' with benched Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal coach Fernando Santos revealed he had a "frank conversation" with Cristiano Ronaldo to explain why he was dropping him, but insisted the veteran forward did not threaten to leave the World Cup.

Reports in Portugal claim Ronaldo was ready to walk out on his country after learning he would be on the bench for the last-16 clash with Switzerland.

The 37-year-old came on in the closing stages as Portugal booked their place in the quarter-finals with a 6-1 win.

Santos revealed he told Ronaldo he would not be starting on the day of the game, and admitted international football's record goal-scorer took some convincing.

Santos said: "We did have a conversation and it would have been very bad if we did not have that conversation.

"Since I took the helm we needed to talk and have a close relationship with the players, that's my approach.

"He’s the captain of our squad and with what he represents for Portuguese football, for the Portuguese people and the national team, naturally I needed to talk to him.

"So when we had this conversation it was on match day, after lunch. The only conversation was on that day and I explained why he would not play.