Fact Check. Does Lent say that Ronaldo is not bigger than the country?

Supposed statements by former footballer Ricardo Quaresma circulate on social media about the controversy involving Cristiano Ronaldo and national team coach Jorge Jesus. According to the posts, when questioned by a journalist about the situation, the player allegedly said: "Cristiano is my brother and one of the greatest players of all time, but I will always tell the truth. He is not greater than Portugal." In the posts, it reads that in the interview Quaresma allegedly said that Portugal gave Ronaldo "the platform to become a legend". "But the jersey comes before any player. No one is greater than the national team. If he is tired of playing for the Portuguese national team, then he should retire. No one is forcing him to stay," he allegedly stated. This would refer to Cristiano Ronaldo's departure from the Portugal National Team camp in Copenhagen. The former footballer allegedly further underlined that a player cannot expect a coach to treat him differently because of his name and fame. "If the coach thinks you should stay on the bench, you stay on the bench. Cristiano did everything for Portugal, and we must respect that. But respect is mutual," he allegedly added. However, the statements attributed to Quaresma are not true. There is no interview published with these statements. The ex-player himself confirmed on social media that it was a fabricated story. "I want to make it clear that these statements are false and were not made by me," he wrote on Instagram. Ricardo Quaresma added that he did not intend to comment on the matter at that time. Later, on the program "Passadeira Vermelha" from SIC Caras, he only said that nowadays more is said about controversies than about the game. "Therefore, I lost some interest in that," he stated. And he added: "These are things I don't like to talk about, because I get along with Cris, I get along with the coach, I get along with the president." Conclusion The statements attributed to Ricardo Quaresma by internet users were not spoken by the former Portuguese international in an interview. There is no interview with these statements. He himself confirmed in a post on Instagram that the story is false. WRONG In Facebook's classification system, this content is: FALSE: The main allegations in the content are factually inaccurate. This option usually corresponds to the classifications "false" or "mostly false" on fact-checking websites. NOTE: this content was selected by The Observer as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.