Cristiano Ronaldo's sister, Elma Aveiro has taken to social media to slam Portugal coach Fernando Santos' decision to bench her brother in Portugal's World Cup 6-1 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday evening.
Aveiro hit out at Santos, claiming that he was humiliating Ronaldo.
She said she did not know why Santos had left the former Manchester United forward out of his starting XI against Switzerland.
Portugal seemed not to need Ronaldo, as they went on to defeat Switzerland, with Goncalo Ramos scoring a hat-trick.
Aveiro took to her Instagram story to share her outburst at Santos' decision to leave out the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
"Today we are all together, if you think it has to be like this, I am here to see it,"
Aveiro began, posting an image of the Portugal team before the kick-off.
This was then followed by a screenshot of a reaction from one of her followers declaring that they could not 'believe' the coach's decision to leave out Ronaldo against Switzerland, with Aveiro claiming:
"I don't know why and I don't understand it, but I am sure we will have the answers from God later, he doesn't fail, let's see."
Ronaldo eventually came off the bench in the 73rd minute when Portugal was already 5-1 up.
After the end of the match, Aveiro congratulated Portugal on their decisive performance before then rekindling her scathing criticisms of Santos' decision.
"Yes, Ronaldo is not eternal, yes Ronaldo won't play forever. Unfortunately, he doesn't score goals now. He is old. Portugal doesn't need Ronaldo," she added.
"We talked about what we heard, all that he did is not important, all that he did was forgotten.
"Now they ask for forgiveness and they don't need him. I will register that and later, we will talk.
"Rui Santos, what will he apologise for? Now we can f*** who we want.
"It is a shame to humiliate a man who has given so much, but later I will see a lot more."
Santos has since insisted that his decision not to start Ronaldo against Switzerland was 'strategic.'
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