Social media storm! 23-year-old Portuguese star: No obligation to pass to Ronaldo, he's like everyone else

On June 22nd Beijing time, 23-year-old Portuguese international Francisco Conceição attended the pre-match press conference for the upcoming match against Uzbekistan, where he responded to questions about Ronaldo. Conceição made it clear that teammates have no obligation to pass the ball to Ronaldo.

Conceição remarked, "I think no one can compare to Ronaldo in terms of scoring goals. Butwe don't feel any obligation or necessity to pass the ball to him. I will pass to a teammate who is in a better position or making a better run."

"He is here to help, just like any other player.We need everyone to work together for the team to function effectively."

Although implying that Ronaldo has no special privileges in the team, Conceição still called Ronaldo a great role model: "From his career achievements to the hunger he shows every day. He is super motivated to train as if it were his last session. If he has achieved so much yet still maintains such strong hunger, then our hunger must be even stronger."

Although Conceição's remarks were generally not too controversial, the phrases "no obligation to pass to Ronaldo" and "Ronaldo is like any other player" still sparked dissatisfaction among Ronaldo's fans.

Unsurprisingly, the Juventus winger's social media was flooded by Ronaldo fans, with many angrily commenting: "Ungrateful! This is why Portugal has struggled to win titles — remember, all of Portugal's honors were brought by Ronaldo!" and "Is he the same as others? You lack sufficient respect for the greatest of all time!"

Previously, another Portuguese international, João Neves, also faced a barrage of abusive comments on his social media after describing Ronaldo as just an "ordinary player," and even his girlfriend was affected.