Portugal's official national football team pages have suffered a massive exodus of social media followers: millions unfollowed the accounts amid a high-profile scandal and Cristiano Ronaldo's departure from the national squad, reports infohub.kz.
In just one day after the star forward's exit, the Instagram page lost about 9 million followers. Before Ronaldo's departure, Portugal's official team page had 32.4 million followers. After the mass unfollowing, that number dropped to 23.5 million. Total losses across various platforms continue to grow.
The reason for Ronaldo's departure was disagreements with the coaching staff amid a situation involving missed matches. Fans around the world reacted strongly to the player's exit, with many openly admitting they had followed the account for Ronaldo, not the team itself.
"It's like the population of a small country," "I unfollowed the account in support of Ronaldo. You can't treat the greatest player, a legend, like that. And what's the point of following if there's no Cris," "On the side of a fraud? One who abandoned his country, his team and left — is it normal to support someone like that?" users write.
The 41-year-old Cristiano still holds the greatest records for the national team — 144 goals scored and 234 matches played.
Earlier, "Kursiv" wrote that Cristiano Ronaldo left Portugal's national team training camp on the eve of the UEFA Nations League match against Denmark. The 41-year-old forward announced his decision on Instagram, promising to explain the reasons for his departure later.