The Portugal Football Federation (FPF) have denied Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo asked Atletico Madrid’s Tiago Mendes for an apology.
AS reports that there were claims made in a Portuguese newspaper that Ronaldo, the Portugal captain, asked Tiago and former Madrid defender Ricardo Carvalho to apologise for quitting the national team.
Tiago and Carvalho were both called up to Fernando Santos’s first squad as Portugal Coach after he replaced Paulo Bento.
“It is not true that the captain has spoken to these or other players to demand they ask for a pardon or other behaviour,” a statement from the FPF said.
Carvalho walked out on a Portugal training camp in August 2011 when he discovered he wasn’t in the team, while Tiago retired from international football the following January.
Both have admitted they regretted their decisions after they were restored to the fold, but the Portuguese governing body have stressed Ronaldo did not intervene.
