Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed the clash with new coach Jorge Jesus and caused a psychodrama in Portugal by leaving the Seleção's training camp in Copenhagen on Wednesday, on the eve of a Nations League match against Denmark.

"After the national coach's press conference, and following a conversation with the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, I made the decision to leave the national team training camp," the five-time Ballon d'Or winner wrote on his Instagram account.

"In due course, I will tell the truth to all Portuguese people about the reasons that motivated my departure," added the 41-year-old player, who announced this summer that this season would "probably" be the last of his career.

His sister, Eilma Aveiro, took to Instagram to criticize the attitude of the press, the national team, and the Portuguese public. "We are envious, contemptuous, ignorant, and we deserve to return to the mediocrity that has always been ours in pre-CR7 football," she wrote, adding: "Thank you for everything, CR7! You deserved better!"

At the press conference before Thursday's match, Jorge Jesus announced that Ronaldo would not be in the starting lineup, after having already left him on the bench during Portugal's victory in Norway (2-1) on Sunday.

The 72-year-old coach had also announced that his captain was expected to train normally on Wednesday after his speech.

- Absent from training -

Photographers saw the striker enter Copenhagen's Parken Stadium in a tracksuit with his teammates, but he did not participate in the part of the training session open to the press, according to video footage.

Some media outlets, including the public broadcaster RTP, have aired footage filmed by fans showing Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the stadium alone.

In a laconic statement, the Portuguese Football Federation confirmed the departure of "CR7" and assured that the team gathering would continue as planned "with the remaining 24 players".

"The entire delegation remains fully focused on the upcoming commitments of the national team" which, after the match in Denmark, will host Norway on Sunday in Porto.

Jorge Jesus, who replaced Spaniard Roberto Martinez as manager of the Seleção after the 2026 World Cup, had used his press conference to deny any "incident" with Cristiano Ronaldo.

- Gonçalo Ramos starts -

"There was no incident," the coach insisted, when repeatedly questioned about the fact that the Portuguese captain, an unused substitute against Norway, had not joined his teammates to greet the Portuguese fans in the stands after the match.

"Any player, and I was a player too... when you spend 20 or 30 minutes warming up and then you don't get to play... there's no one who's happy," Jorge Jesus said on Wednesday.

The Portuguese coach, however, admitted to having told Ronaldo before the match that he would not be in the starting lineup but that he might be called upon at the end of the game.

"Afterwards, as coach, I decided that he would not come on. There's no need to make an incident out of it," he stressed, recalling that he knew the player well, having coached him last season at Al-Nassr, with whom he won the Saudi Arabian championship.

Jorge Jesus also assured that Ronaldo had not refused to train on Tuesday, as some Portuguese media had suggested, but that he had had to do individual exercises of physical "mobilization" and "strengthening".

The coach had at the same time indicated that he intended to start Gonçalo Ramos at the forefront of the Portuguese attack on Thursday.

"If everything goes as planned, Gonçalo will play," he said before adding about Cristiano Ronaldo: "If I need him, he will come on. If I don't need him, he won't come on."

"No player or president will be able to change my way of thinking about football," the strong-willed coach had declared.