Cristiano Ronaldo insists Maurizio Sarri was right to substitute him for Juventus in recent weeks because he was playing through injury.
The Portuguese superstar was taken off after 55 minutes against AC Milan last week.
And Ronaldo was seen heading straight down the tunnel and drove home before the match had ended.
It followed Sarri substituting him days before in the Champions League match with Lokomotiv Moscow, but Ronaldo has clarified the situation amid speculation that there is a rift between the player and manager.
“In the last three weeks I have been limited. Everyone knows that I don’t like to be substituted,” Ronaldo told A Bola.
“But there was no problem in my gestures after the change. I tried to help Juventus by playing injured.
“No one likes to be replaced, but I understand it, because I wasn’t well in those two games. I wasn’t 100 per cent.”
