Portugal star Ruben Dias was involved in an awkward live television interview just moments after his nation was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.
The Portugal and Manchester City defender fronted up for a chat in the minutes that followed the 1-0 last-16 exit at the hands of Spain and it became a far more tense chat than anticipated.
Dias was in conversation with former Portugal international Ricardo Quaresma who, to put it bluntly, was in no mood for excuses served up by Dias.
‘You know better than anyone,’ Dias said to Quaresma, ‘in a competition like this, things are rarely perfect from the start, and often it’s better that they aren’t, so that nobody gets carried away and thinks everything is fine, and then, when the decisive moments arrive, we don’t have the ability to respond.
‘I think the team was growing, and more than in any other game, I felt that after the Colombia game, the Croatia game was a very important test for us. Far from perfect, but it was important for us. [Against Spain], once again, I felt that we continued to grow in that sense. Unfortunately, we didn’t win.
‘There’s a feeling of frustration because we sensed this growth was happening, because we felt we were going to get better and better, because we knew what we had on the pitch and everything we had on the bench.’
Ricardo Quaresma (left) was unimpressed with Ruben Dias (right) after an early World Cup exit
Quaresma saw it differently, insisting that Dias and his team-mates didn’t offer enough to get the job done.
‘Mate, I don’t really agree with what you’re saying,’ Quaresma began.
‘From the start right up to now, I’ve thought you lot could have given a lot more because, after all, you’re at a very high level and almost all of you are considered among the best in the world.
‘I think that with the quality and talent you’ve got, you could have given a lot more. Is Spain a good team? Yes, but you’ve got a strong enough squad… or rather, in this case, we’ve got a strong enough squad to beat Spain.
‘I felt you played too deep, too wide, kept the ball too much, didn’t look to go in behind enough, didn’t shoot at goal enough, didn’t look for the goal as often as you did in the last five minutes, when we created chances…’
While the third interviewer sat silently as this rather tense exchanging of views took place, Dias responded, unwilling to be called out live by Quaresma, now working as a pundit.
‘You’ve spent enough time in this environment to understand precisely all the intricacies surrounding a national team and the different personalities and mindsets of each player as they try to come together,’ Dias fired back.
‘I know that, in your position, you’ve always been a more technically gifted player, one with a specific task: to win your one-on-one duels. Here, when we talk about playing well, there’s much more to it than just that technical skill and that direct match-up.
‘It’s part of having patience not to force every transition, even though the space is sometimes there. It’s the pressure, as I told you. It’s the balance. We have to seek that balance.’
Cristiano Ronaldo and Co limped to a last-16 exit after losing 1-0 to Spain in the Dallas Stadium
But rather than back down, an irked Quaresma had more to say.
‘But you have to make the most of your team-mates’ qualities,’ he said.
‘You’ve got [Rafael] Leão, who looks to go deeper, Neto, Francisco… they’re lads who can take on a man one-on-one and turn a game on its head in an instant. You know? It’s not just about always having the ball and playing it backwards and sideways. You’ve got to play it further forward, you see? And look for those players more.’
While the tense exchange was brought to a close with both men agreeing to disagree, it only added to the ferocity around Portugal’s early World Cup exit.
