Rasmus Hojlund’s moment with Jorge Jesus after the Portugal vs Denmark game is quickly becoming popular online.
A moment between Rasmus Hojlund and Jorge Jesus after Thursday’s Nations League game between Denmark and Portugal is getting a lot of attention.
Portugal stayed unbeaten under new coach Jesus, beating Denmark 4-2 with goals from Joao Cancelo, Goncalo Ramos, Vitinha, and Joao Felix in a tough Group D match.
Before the game in Copenhagen, all the talk was about Portugal’s top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo. He left the Portugal team camp on Wednesday after reports of a disagreement with Jesus.
Because of that, Ronaldo didn’t play against Denmark, but his influence was felt when scorer Rasmus Hojlund did his famous ‘Siu’ celebration to make it 2-2. Hojlund has said Ronaldo was his childhood hero, so the celebration was expected. Still, the timing was interesting given recent events.
After the game, Hojlund was shaking hands with the Portugal players when coach Jorge Jesus approached him. Jesus patted Hojlund on the chest, and the Danish player pushed back but smiled. Jesus smiled too, but Hojlund looked unhappy. Fans noticed, with one saying, “Rasmus Hojlund did NOT look happy with Jorge Jesus,” and another asking, “Who saw Hojlund pushing Jorge Jesus away?”
To explain, the tension between Jesus and Ronaldo reportedly started during Portugal’s win over Norway on Sunday. Ronaldo warmed up for about 30 minutes in the second half but wasn’t brought onto the field. After that, there was a quick meeting with Ronaldo, the Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proenca, and Jesus. Jesus apologized for what happened.
Edu Aguirre, a close friend of Ronaldo and sports reporter, said Jesus promised to admit the mistake publicly. But during a press conference, Jesus made it clear that no player is bigger than the team.
This seems to have upset some people, but Jesus is ready to talk openly about it. Before the Denmark match he said, “I will explain everything after the last game. I have many years in football and I know I did nothing wrong. After the Norway game, we will talk about this. I won’t hide or run away from it. Nobody can take away what Cristiano means. He’s an icon and that’s not in question.”