MOSCOW (AP) He’s their star player, but Portugal would rather talk about anyone except Cristiano Ronaldo.
On the day Ronaldo was summoned to appear before a Spanish judge on accusations of tax fraud, defender Pepe and coach Fernando Santos tried to pretend the story simply didn’t exist.
Pepe waxed lyrical about a coach he’d worked with briefly 14 years ago. Santos nattered about friendly phone calls with a player from his Porto days.
When they did have to discuss their star player, they kept it general. Legal problems? Ronaldo barely gives them a thought, they suggested.