Man City star Bernardo Silva explains Portugal dressing room reaction to Cristiano Ronaldo interview

Bernardo Silva says Cristiano Ronaldo’s controversial interview has not affected Portugal’s World Cup build-up.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s bombshell interview with Piers Morgan has stolen the limelight ahead of the World Cup in Qatar as Portugal prepare to get their campaign under way on Thursday.

There are even claims Ronaldo is set to be sacked by Manchester United, following the interview in which he trashed the club and said he had no respect for boss Erik ten Hag.

But Bernardo insisted the controversy surrounding Ronaldo had not been a distraction to Portugal’s players ahead of the tournament.

“The news that comes from England has nothing to do with the national team, so I won’t say anything. It doesn’t concern me, it concerns Cristiano,” said Bernardo. “I don’t have to comment.

“It’s a matter for Cristiano, I’m not a Manchester United player and even if I was I would not answer that, because we’re in the national team so I’m not going to talk about it.”

Asked about what seemed to be a tense exchange between Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes when the Portugal squad met up, Bernardo said: “I don’t see any weird environment between Cristiano and Bruno.

“It’s something that belongs to Cristiano. It’s a personal matter and I don’t see a big deal out of it. There’s no weird environment. It’s a shame we’ve only been talking about this when we have a World Cup to play. I don’t see a big issue.”

Portugal kick-off their World Cup campaign against Ghana on Thursday after winning a warm-up friendly against Nigeria 4-0 this past week, though Ronaldo was absent due to a stomach bug.