Cristiano Ronaldo dropped against Spain for ‘tactical’ reasons — Fernando Santos

Portugal manager Fernando Santos has defended his decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo for the country’s draw with Spain, saying: “It was better to use the players that I used.”

Portugal and Spain drew 1-1 in their Nations League clash on Thursday night. Spain’s Alvaro Morata scored the opener, only for Braga’s Ricardo Horta to score the equalising goal on his first Portugal appearance in almost eight years.

Santos elected to drop Ronaldo from his starting eleven, with Portugal’s record goal-scorer only introduced midway through the second half.

“Cristiano Ronaldo? They often ask why he is a starter. It’s the million-dollar question,” Santos said after Thursday’s result, as per Reuters. “I understood that for this game it was better to use the players I used.”

Santos added that it was a tactical decision to drop Ronaldo for the match.

“It was a technical and tactical option for this game,” he said. “It seemed to us the best solution. For the way we wanted to play and approach the game.

“It has nothing to do with Cristiano's quality, that's not even in question.

“There are moments in the game when you have to think in a different way. We believed that in the second half he could come in and solve the game.”