Cristiano Ronaldo has been called a ‘total narcissist’ amid his ongoing battle with Jorge Jesus, but the player could have the last laugh.That is according to Portuguese football expert Eric Krakauer, who feels Ronaldo’s importance has potential to outweigh that of the recently appointed Jesus’.Ronaldo is Portugal’s greatest player, but his international career is all ending horriblyGettyThe 41-year-old started the 1-0 win over Wales during this international break, but he was an unused substitute in the following game against Norway and was sent out to warm up.Ronaldo then left the camp and played no part in the rest of the matches, which Portugal won.Jesus has a 100 per cent record as Portugal’s manager, but that might not be enough to save him.Joining Kick Off, Krakauer said: “The tarnishing of his reputation is very, very sad for him and for the country because he put Portugal on the map.“The complicated situation is that the Portuguese Football Federation is more concerned with the amount of money it has in its coffers rather than the success of the national team.“That is one of the reasons they didn’t put Roberto Martinez under any pressure to sideline Ronaldo in the World Cup, even though playing him was essentially sacrificing their success.“Ronaldo brings a tremendous amount of money to the Portuguese Football Federation, so they understand that without him, they aren’t going to have the same sort of income. He is essentially a cash cow, and they are not ready to part ways with that money.“So, I see this dragging on for a while, and hopefully, Jorge Jesus isn’t the sacrificial lamb because the federation might decide that Ronaldo is worth a lot more than Jesus.”And Krakauer added that he believes Ronaldo is a ‘total narcissist’ for comparing himself to Diego Maradona and Pele and then asking the manager to read out some points at a press conference.“He also compared himself with Pele and Maradona. Oh, don’t. Right, which, you know, he can be in that conversation, maybe, but I think it takes a total narcissist. And I’m sorry to say this about a player that I love. It takes a narcissist to write that down,”Krakauer added.Jesus has decided that Ronaldo will be a bit-part player in his teamAFPRonaldo’s statementAfter leaving the camp, Ronaldo revealed that he would explain everything, and he did in a very long statement, accusing Jesus of breaking promises to him.Part of it read as follows: “This is the truth on what has happened with Jorge Jesus. As I promised, I decided to recount, in the first person and directly, the circumstances surrounding the last training camp of the national team.“I told the President of the Federation that, in my opinion, it would be the right choice to retire. That is why, on the day the current head coach was presented, I was genuinely happy with the choice. It was the right option, as the results are confirming. A few days later I received a first contact from the new national team coach saying he would like to meet me in person.“He presented me, right there, with a plan for my participation. He told me I would play the first match and the last one, and that for reasons of physical management he would always make three to four changes per match.“At that point he raised the possibility of me not travelling with the national team to Norway and Denmark. He proposed that I play the first match and stay in Portugal, then rejoin before the match at the Dragao.“I refused this proposal immediately. It seemed obvious to me that I could not accept it. It was not because I would not play the matches abroad that I would stop captaining our team. That privilege of staying in Portugal would not be a good example. The coach ended up agreeing with my analysis.“At lunchtime on the day of the match in Norway, an assistant to the coach came to the table where the group was having lunch and informed me that the coach wanted to speak to me.Ronaldo’s decline on the international stage has been clear for all to seeGetty“To my absolute surprise, the coach asked me if I was fit to play 30 minutes. I was fully focused on my physical recovery, integrated with my teammates as always, and thinking that I would not play that day. Without any problem.“This request was something outside my physical recovery and training plan — because I was only going to play on the 4th at the Dragao — but of course I said yes.“He replied that I should then be ready because I would play 30 minutes. The rest everyone knows. I warmed up from half-time, watched the minutes go by, and was not called. The coach had broken his word to me.”Ronaldo’s declineDuring the 2026 World Cup, Ronaldo scored in his sixth edition of the tournament, but Portugal crashed out early on.This despite them having a team full of world-class players, and it was the same in the 2024 European Championships as well.And Krakauer believes that the Ronaldo downfall has been happening for a while and has contributed to those failures.He said: “It’s a tragic affair in a football sense that Portugal’s greatest player is basically walking out on his team and blemishing what was until recently, an unblemishable legacy with international football.“But there is no doubt once you take everything into account, he’s essentially orchestrated his own demise.“He’s had the power for nearly two decades, but over the last four or five years, the conversation hasn’t been about Ronaldo and his supporting cast.“Different players have become more prominent and Ronaldo was declining, though, he could never seem to accept that, starting in 2022 when Fernando Santos decided to bench him for Goncalo Ramos because he believed that Ronaldo was a detriment to the team.“That doesn’t mean he didn’t have a part to play, but he wasn’t physically able to offer the team what they needed, which was a pressing forward.“It seemed as if we were going to see Ronaldo being phased out. Unfortunately, Roberto Martinez was hired, and he decided to indulge his superstar.“He said that no one could take his place in the XI, and in Euro 2024 and the World Cup, it was obvious he was a detriment except to Ronaldo.”