Cristiano Ronaldo’s dramatic walkout on the Portugal squad has split his home country.

Many would have expected the public to rally behind the greatest footballer in Portuguese history. However, the reality seems far more complicated.

If anything, the weight of public opinion has landed on the side of the new coach.

What the polling says

A poll carried out by Pitagórica for broadcasters TVI and CNN Portugal, conducted on October 1 and 2, asked who was right in the row with 42% siding with manager Jorge Jesus.

Just 14% sided with Ronaldo while the rest said they were unsure.

Strikingly, the backing for the manager held up across club loyalties – even among supporters of Sporting, the club where Ronaldo’s talent was developed.

When respondents were pushed between keeping the new manager or their all-time great, just 19% said they would keep the 41-year-old striker while 66% would keep Jesus.

The legacy vs the reality

What emerges is a nation drawing a sharp line between what Ronaldo once was vs the reality of his current abilities.

An overwhelming 94% still rate his impact on the national team over his career as positive, and 71% as ‘very positive’.

Yet on his future, the mood hardens. The public is split down the middle on whether he should keep being called up at all, and a clear majority, 58%, believe he should no longer be captain.

The Portuguese website ZAP captured the mood neatly, writing that there is ‘near-unanimous gratitude’ as the Portuguese ‘stand to applaud Cristiano Ronaldo and, in the same gesture, point him towards the exit’.

The country, it concluded, ‘applauds what Ronaldo did and, at the same time, does not choose him for what comes next’.

What the Portuguese media are saying

Among Portugal’s most prominent football voices, the mood has also pitched heavily towards the manager.

Rui Santos, an influential CNN Portugal commentator, has been scathing about Ronaldo’s walkout, calling it a ‘provocation’ and framing the saga as a straight power struggle.

‘I see a very clear arm-wrestle between Cristiano Ronaldo and Jorge Jesus, and I’m certain that Ronaldo, right now, thinks he is going to win it,’ Santos said. ‘My doubt is whether that power will be enough to bring down Jorge Jesus, because Jesus will not back down.’

‘Cristiano Ronaldo is not ready for this. He is convinced that what he gave to Portugal is enough to guarantee him a starting place,’ he said, before adding: ‘If Cristiano Ronaldo wants to keep playing for a national team, he will have to buy a country. He has no other option.’

Others have been blunter still. Writing for CNN Portugal, columnist Agostinho Costa delivered a brutal verdict under the headline: ‘You want the truth, Cristiano? A lot of people are fed up with putting up with you.’

One commentator seized on Ronaldo comparing himself to Pelé and Maradona in his statement, noting acidly that ‘Ronaldo’s arrogance even forgot Eusébio’, Portugal’s own late icon.

However, not everyone has rounded on the captain.

In his Observador column, Alberto Gonçalves refused to pin the blame solely on Ronaldo, and was just as pointed about the manager.

Gonçalves argued that Jesus ‘no longer has a comparable career’ to the player he had benched, noting that it had been ‘seven championships’ since the coach last won a title with one of Portugal’s big clubs.

Another local pundit lamented the undignified manner of his exit, saying the captain ‘did not deserve to leave’ in the manner that he had – on a plane on his own ‘in the dark of the night’.

Journalist Bernardo Ribeiro, meanwhile, trained his fire not on Ronaldo but on those running the game.

Ribeiro branded the federation’s officials ‘fools’ who had been led by the nose by people close to Jorge Jesus, accusing them of dragging the player’s name, and those around him, through the mud.

Away from Portugal, The Athletic pointed out one shameful aspect of the whole sorry affair. Whatever side you come down on, the 41-year-old deserves a better international farewell than this.

‘Ronaldo’s exit, if this is what it proves to be, could not look more different or be more out-of-step with what he has given to and represented within Portuguese football.’