Portugal fan sponsors billboard supporting Ronaldo, criticizing Jesus

A Portugal fan has sponsored the display of a large billboard supporting Cristiano Ronaldo in front of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) headquarters in Lisbon.

The billboard, which was generated by artificial intelligence, shows a picture of Ronaldo and one of Portugal coach Jorge Jesus.

Next to Ronaldo's picture, it reads: "Thank you, Cristiano Ronaldo for all you have done for Portugal. You're forever our captain."

Jesus, meanwhile, was criticized: "Jorge Jesus wasn't up to the task." The banner also says Jesus has an "inflated ego."

The billboard was quickly taken down.

Ronaldo walked out of Portugal's training camp after Jesus left him on the bench during the Nations League match against Norway last Sunday.

"In due course, I will tell all the Portuguese people the truth about the reasons that led me to leave the national team, to which I always dedicated myself," the player said in a statement earlier this week.

Fernando Maia, the fan who sponsored the banner, owns a billboard company and said he has no links to Ronaldo.

"I don't know Ronaldo, I don't know anyone on Ronaldo's entourage. I know myself, and I know something called gratitude, and I don't dismiss the people who were and are useful to Portugal," he told the Observador radio, according to the A Bola newspaper.

"Jorge Jesus was just the means for this to have happened, but there are more culprits," he added.

Maia vowed to display the same billboard in front of the Estádio do Dragão, where Portugal play their next Nations League match against Norway on Sunday.