Silva urges Ron to continue his Portugal career

BERNARDO SILVA hopes to play with Cristiano Ronaldo (caricature) at international level again despite Portugal’s World Cup elimination at the hands of Uruguay on Saturday night.

Ronaldo was powerless to prevent a Uruguay side inspired by Edinson Cavani from progressing in Sochi. Cavani scored twice, either side of a Pepe equaliser, to secure a deserved 2-1 win and a last-eight spot against France.

By the time of the next World Cup, to be hosted by Qatar in 2022, Ronaldo will be 37 years old. The Real Madrid forward refused to comment on whether he would retire from international football after the final whistle, claiming: “Now is not the time to talk about the future of players and coaches.”

Bernardo, who came the closest of any Portuguese player to finding an equaliser against Uruguay, is not sure whether Ronaldo will bring an end to his international career to an end but hopes he decides to play on.

“That I don’t know,” he said, when asked about the Real Madrid forward’s plans. “It’s his decision. As a teammate, I hope so because he helps us so much. He’s a fantastic player. We don’t need to describe him. So hopefully he stays but it’s his decision.

“He has had another amazing season. The best scorer in the Champions League, a third Champions League in a row. In this World Cup, he helped us so much, scoring four goals. So yes, it seems like he’s getting better with age. I hope he stays but we’ll see what happens.”

Bernardo added: “Everyone is disappointed, him as well. We’re going out of the World Cup with the feeling that in the first three games we didn’t play as well as we thought we could, and we didn’t lose. And this was our best game and we got eliminated. It’s a bit frustrating for us. But it’s football.”

Jose Fonte, the Portugal centre-back formerly of Southampton and West Ham United, revealed that Ronaldo returned to the dressing room disappointed after the final whistle, but believed he and his teammates could take pride in their displays in Russia.

“Everyone was holding their heads high. Cristiano came in disappointed. But he and all the team and the manager we know we gave our best, perhaps the best we played in the tournament and we lost. This is football,” he said.

Manchester City’s Bernardo, meanwhile, was impressed with Portugal’s conquerors and though he does not rank Uruguay among the favourites, he believes they will pose problems for France and any other side they may come against.

“They have a very good team, they’re very strong physically and they have two amazing players up front, who can decide games like they did today,” he said.

“As you can see, they work a lot offensively and defensively because some attacking players don’t defend as much as they attack, but these guys work so much for the team. They create so many problems. They had a good day and we couldn’t stop them, unfortunately.

“I think the favourites are France and Brazil and Spain. But then you have teams like England and Uruguay and Croatia that can make a difference as well. We’ll see what happens.” – The Independent