Cristiano Ronaldo has responded to claims that he threatened to walk out on Portugal after being left out of the starting line up for the first time at the World Cup.

"I would never turn my back on my colleagues and my country," he said in a statement following the team's shock quarter-final defeat to Morocco.

The exit on Saturday had been the second time in succession that the 37-year-old had been dropped to the bench.

There had been suggestions following the last-16 clash with Switzerland that he had implored head coach Fernando Santos to let him go home.

But Ronaldo has now said in response that it was "not worth reacting to heat".

"I was always one fighting for the objective of all and I would never turn my back on my colleagues and my country," he said in a translated social media post. "Not much more to say for now."

Ronaldo’s Portugal career appears to now be hanging in the balance. His club prospects are also uncertain after Manchester United tore up his contract over comments he made in an interview with Piers Morgan.

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Against Morocco, he had exited the field in tears on Saturday, taking a final stoic glance at the crowd before cupping his hand and heading down the tunnel in tears.

"Winning a World Cup for Portugal was the biggest and most ambitious dream of my career," he wrote.

"I fought hard for this dream. In the five appearances, I scored in World Cups over 16 years, always by the side of great players and supported by millions of Portuguese. I gave my all. Leave it all out on the field. I never turned my face to the fight and I never gave up on that dream. Sadly yesterday the dream ended."

In a hint that this international career may be drawing to a close, he added: "The dream was nice while it lasted...".

Ronaldo holds the world record as the all-time overall leading scorer in international play with 118 international goals in 196 matches. He is also a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, the recipient of four European Golden Shoes and has seven league titles under his belt.

Ronaldo is still deciding on his future, with a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia to weigh up in the coming days. He did not return to Lisbon on Sunday, with the Portuguese FA announcing only 14 players would be returning to the nation's capital following the defeat.

Alongside the former Manchester United forward, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, Ruben Neves, Rui Patricio, Raphael Guerreiro, Rafael Leao, Joao Cancelo and  Maheus Nunes, were also planning to travel home independently.

Of the initial 26-man World Cup squad, Danilo Pereira and Nuno Mendes had already withdrawn through injuries.