Diogo Dalot hits back at Portugal critics, defends Ronaldo after opening game

Dalot's ‌comments came after what he described as a few hard days following Portugal's disappointing 1-1 ‌draw with Democratic Republic of Congo.

The result unleashed a torrent ‌of online criticism and abuse ahead of their clash with Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

"The ‌criticism will come but the message we have is that millions ‌of people want Portugal to win and there are those who don't want Portugal to win," Dalot told reporters.

"I've been in football for a while to know ‌that criticism is part of the process and ⁠we can't run from it. ‌But there is constructive criticism also.

"Our message is clear: we're cohesive as a group, ​we're strong and we're ready to do everything to win."

When pressed to identify his targets, the 27-year-old remained coy.

"I can't ​say one or two people, but there are people who don't want Portugal to win," he added. "My job is to go out there, ⁠play and send a ​message that the group is strong and united despite the result. The team wants to do better."

Dalot leaps to Ronaldo's defence

Dalot also leapt to the defence of Cristiano Ronaldo, who has faced particular scrutiny after an underwhelming ‌start to his sixth World Cup.

"Everybody is aware of Cristiano's ability to deal with criticism. With what people have been sharing, the criticism is part of his environment," Dalot said.

"Pressure is a part of a competition at this level. Our opinion of him hasn't changed, he will always be ready to help and represent his nation."

Dalot also revealed that the players were deliberately shielding themselves from the backlash on social media.

"Without revealing too much of what we say in private conversations, ‌before the World Cup we had a conversation about social media and ​criticism," he said.

"When you have a team like this, especially ‌with Cristiano in your team, we need to learn to deal with criticism that is not normal... That's why the team was cut off from criticism on social media.

"The positive aspect we see is that it happened early (in the tournament). The earlier the setbacks, ⁠the easier it is for ⁠us to kill that theme ‌and move on."