The coach says his comments about the Juventus star were taken the wrong way, but apologised ahead of the clash with Portugal
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic has apologised for branding Cristiano Ronaldo an "egoist" after the Juventus star failed to attend Thursday's UEFA ceremony where his former team-mate Luka Modric beat him to the Player of the Year award.
Having won the Champions League last season at Real Madrid, it was unsurprising to see Keylor Navas, Sergio Ramos, Modric and Ronaldo sweep up trophies for their respective positions.
But Ronaldo, who left Madrid for Juventus in July, was nowhere to be seen at the event, with some suggesting his absence was a response to being snubbed in favour of Modric for the main prize.
Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes, Juve president Beppe Marotta and the forward's sister, Katia Aveiro , were all among those to criticise UEFA.
And while Dalic took aim at Ronaldo, he concedes he might have gone too far in saying "Ronaldo is an egoist and I'd never want him in my team" .
"I regret that," Dalic told reporters ahead of Thursday's friendly with Portugal, a game Ronaldo will not be featuring in.
"It was part of my answer to question why Ronaldo did not attend the UEFA ceremony and about negative comments on Luka getting the award, so I said it was selfish of Cristiano and I don't like such players.
"[It was] nothing personal or negative, maybe just presented wrong and I am sorry.
"For FIFA's The Best award, I voted for Modric and put Cristiano as number two.
"Luka deserves it because he was voted the best player at the Club World Cup, was world and European champion with Real, won a silver medal at the World Cup and the World Cup Golden Ball on top of that.
"No other player won so much this year. Cristiano is one of best players of all time, but this year Luka was better."
Ronaldo will miss Thursday's clash after coach Fernando Santos gave the 33-year-old permission to skip their next two matches due to "all the processes of adaptation" his move to Juventus has entailed, but Dalic would have preferred the Ballon d'Or holder to feature.
"I'd love it if Cristiano could have played tomorrow," Dalic added. "But we also have [Ivan] Rakitic resting.
"Ronaldo deserves rest. Some players need more time after the World Cup to reach top form. Maybe we'll have the chance to face him at Euro 2020."
vehacept
67
ronaldo is suppose to win the the award because he has been a driving force in the Madrid team over the years and this years 85% of their goals at the champions league were score by him leading them to their victory and his performance at world cup was not bad it was above average including his goals and just because he left Madrid UEFA wants to strip him of what rightfully belongs to him come to think of it if he were still at Madrid will modric win ..let be rational and not just speak because of the sake of that
messi10forever
44
cristiano will rise to his best m sure., he is a player of great capability, he can turn around things on his own, just because hi didn't performance well in starting matches doesn't mean he his no more lethal now, he will surely come to his best just he didi in last season., and this is coming from a leo messi and barca fan,
niudloty
32
Messi didn't attend the event and was nominated among the best forward and no one has make any comments about that is it that people are always using Ronaldo to make headlines?
godykemanutd
17
The comment of Dalic made me wonder if they already knew who the winner was before the event. How can he said Ronaldo refused to come because Modric won it that means the knew before hand that Modric will win it, that is corruption. If all already know the winner, why bother expecting Ronaldo to come and waste his time when he already knew he was not going to win it? this award should be kept secret till the time of announcement, with that, it will make everyone to be available because you never knew who was going to win it, it could be you and could be others. If i was in Ronaldo's shoe, after all i have done and achieved then i find out that i will not be winning to award, i will rather rest in my home than being in the ceremony. for Dalic to have said what he said about Ronaldo, he lacked respect as simple as that.