sport news World Cup: Cristiano Ronaldo trains with Portugal teammates ahead of quarter ... trends now
Cristiano Ronaldo has been pictured in training with his Portugal teammates - including substitutes - as they prepare for their World Cup quarter-final against Morocco.
The 37-year-old reportedly opted not to train with the substitutes on Wednesday - instead joining the first team for gym work - despite being dropped to the bench for their 6-1 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday.
All eyes are on Ronaldo, with manager Fernando Santos having a huge decision over whether to bring Portugal's greatest ever player back into the starting XI on Saturday.
Similar to the end of his spell at Manchester United, Ronaldo appears to be causing a stir with his international team in Qatar.
Portugal had to deny reports from the nation on Thursday which claimed he was ready to walk out on his country's World Cup squad after learning he had been dropped from their starting XI against Switzerland.
Ronaldo himself furiously denied the reports, tweeting that Portugal were 'a group too close to be broken by outside forces'.
Cristiano Ronaldo has returned to the training pitch on Thursday with the starting XI that played Switzerland on Monday, as Portugal prepare for their quarter-final against Morocco
Ronaldo's training appearance comes on the same day he had to deny reports which came from Portugal which suggested he wanted to quit the World Cup squad after being benched
Ronaldo will hope to start against Morocco, though his replacement for the Switzerland game, Goncalo Ramos, staked his claim by scoring a stunning hat-trick.
Despite questions over his place in the team, pictures have shown Ronaldo looking as determined as ever as Santos puts his team through their paces in training.
Santos admitted before the Switzerland game that he 'didn't like' Ronaldo's angry reaction to getting substituted in their 2-1 group stage defeat to South Korea.
According to Marca, after failing to turn up to train with Portugal's substitutes, he instead went for a low-intensity gym session with the starters on Wednesday - despite playing less than 20 minutes against Switzerland.
While substitutes such as Rafael Leao and Ruben Neves were pictured doing ball work, Ronaldo was later snapped on the grass - but in trainers and doing resistance-band work separately. Antonio Silva, an used substitute, was also pictured doing gym work too.
Ronaldo reportedly failed to train with Portugal's substitutes on Wednesday and instead joined the starters for a low-intensity session - despite playing just 20 minutes against Switzerland
The striker snubbed the substitutes' training session on Wednesday to instead train in the gym
Ronaldo was pictured on Portugal's Instagram account working out with resistance bands
It was understood the Portugal camp were 'surprised' not to see Ronaldo among the substitutes on
