Carlos Queiroz, possibly the most aggressive defender of Ronaldo’s position as a Man Utd player in the face of Real Madrid interest, has now retreated to a neutral position.
The Independent reports that when new Portugal coach Queiroz was quizzed about his former player, he didn’t offer up his usual robust defence of Man Utd’s interests.

Introduced yesterday as the Portugal coach, Queiroz replied to a question about Ronaldo’s future by saying: “As a national team coach and being attached to the Portuguese football federation, we must not interfere with relations that are professional between our players and clubs. We should not even have an opinion about that.” (Independent)

For someone who offered up such a red-blooded defence of Man Utd (and such a molten attack on Real) in the Cristiano Ronaldo saga, to suddenly slip into a neutral position is a major backtrack and could imply a tacit acceptance that Ronnie is off to Real.