“It won’t help Portugal”: increasingly criticized, Ronaldo is missing more goals. World Cup numbers are scary

“Clumsy, traffic stopper, a problem” are just some of the expressions used over the last few days to describe the captain of the national team. Ronaldo is the player who missed the most games in World Cups and never contributed to any goal in the knockout stages.

Looking at the markers, everything looks OK. Portugal said goodbye to the Portuguese public before the 2026 World Cup with a victory (again 2-1) against Nigeria, after beating Chile, and left for the United States this weekend with the taste of victory. However, it is impossible to ignore the heartburn that burns in the chests of many Portuguese people.

The problem is there at the attacking front and, despite being considered the worst on the field by most sports newspapers, he was the only one who didn’t leave at half-time. The name of the nuisance? Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Cristiano had the plan to play 45/60 minutes in both games. Just like other cases that we had well outlined. We achieved the plans for all players”, explained Roberto Martínez, when faced with the choice of leaving the team’s oldest player on the field.

And it was Ronaldo who, curiously or not, returned to prominence for the worst reasons. The Al Nassr striker made “a hat trick of missed opportunities“, as the newspaper quipped.

Ronaldo repeatedly failed to finish, a problem that had already been evident against Chile, in which he also came up empty. And it has been proven that the National Team finds solutions more quickly to achieve victory without Ronaldo than with him.

In the second half of this last game, Portugal improved with the ball, controlled the game better and found the solution in Francisco Conceição, who scored nine minutes after Ronaldo left. Against Chile, Portugal had only opened up and gained the advantage on the scoreboard after CR7 sat on the bench.

Criticism rained down in torrents on the Portuguese football legend, with the name of Bruno Fernandes emerging (more than once) as one of the greats targeted by Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence on the field.

Criticism after criticism

“It won’t have a big impact”

After the two games that revealed Ronaldo’s form and the team’s attitude towards it, one of the first negative criticisms came from Liverpool legend John Barnes.

“I don’t think Ronaldo will have a big impactin terms of being the player he was in the past for 90 minutes”, said the former England international, to . “I think we need to move away from that”.

“Portugal has a lot of good players, but the more you have one player dominating the entire team, for being Cristiano Ronaldo, without being the Ronaldo of old, you won’t see the best of Bruno Fernandes and other players, because everything revolves around Ronaldo. And I don’t think that will help [Portugal]”, Barnes further said.

“Clumsy” and “frustrated”

“What a few years ago was a sure goal, now it isn’t”, summarized the Spanish sports daily Asin chronicle.

In France, there was also criticism of the 41-year-old Portuguese.

“Clumsy, Cristiano Ronaldo wasted several opportunities”, read in RMC Sport, while in Germany, in Bild, readers were informed of a “frustrated” Ronaldo.

“It’s a problem. There’s almost a fear of taking it off”

This Saturday, Ronaldo’s sister, Elma Aveiro felt the need to defend the Portuguese star on social media after equally harsh comments from journalist Carlos Daniel about the Seleção captain.

“At this moment, trying to be as raw as possible and respecting the quality of all the players, even those who did less well, starting with Ronaldo, if we don’t change the attack, we won’t have a great chance of being successful in the World Cup. And we need to say this now”, said Daniel on RTP Notícias.

“Ronaldo is a problem for the national team today and today’s game proved it”, he said, not forgetting the true importance that a role other than CR7 could have in the national team.

“It seems to me that Portugal being tied to the obligation to always play with Ronaldo today is a problem”, he said again. “Ronaldo can be useful in some games, I share this idea, which is not just mine, I have heard a lot of people say the same thing — that if Ronaldo, today, mentalized himself, could be a substitute appearing at a later stage in some games, with more space and a more worn-out opponent. He could also, with the symbolic side he brings to the game, still be a very important player”, said Carlos Daniel.

“As a member of the national team, and especially this irremovable member, it seems that there is almost fear of taking it out before the others or at the same time as the others, is creating a problem for Cristiano Ronaldo himself. People admire him immensely, they gave him that applause as he left because there is an indisputable and fair gratitude from the country, but that cannot stop us from, from a technical-tactical point of view, looking at the Seleção and saying: ‘Ronaldo can be useful at times, but the Seleção cannot live off Cristiano Ronaldo, it can’t anymore’”, highlighted the RTP journalist.

The Portuguese striker’s sister took to Instagram stories to respond and curse the journalist.

“This man doesn’t have mirrors, and whoever told this idiot that his opinion is useful for anything, you’re old, and for what you do you’re very weak and foolish”, Ronaldo’s sister began by writing, above a photo with the journalist and Ronaldo.

“Also keep in mind that Ronaldo doesn’t give a shit about your opinion, go but it’s going home that you’re becoming obsolete”, wrote the Madeiran who so often comes out, in an aggressive tone, in defense of her brother, in the face of criticism.

“Embarrassing: Bruno Fernandes should go on strike”

British radio journalist Angelina Kelly was one of the biggest critics: she argued that Bruno Fernandes should take a firm stance and refuse to play if Cristiano Ronaldo continues to start for Portugal in the 2026 World Cup.

“One of the teams that can really win the tournament is Portugal, and they have never really performed at their best in a World Cup. I think their best performance dates back to 1966, when they finished in third place”, began reminding the journalist: “They are fifth in the world rankings, and the midfield is full of talent. They have players like Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes, João Neves… I don’t like talking about Fernandes, but he is 31 years old and may not have a better opportunity to winning a World Cup, especially considering the current form he is in”, he continued.

“If Portugal wins the World Cup and he [Bruno Fernandes] Playing a big tournament, combined with his performances for Manchester United, could be a candidate for the Ballon d’Or. I’m not saying he’s going to win it, but he could be a candidate. But it won’t have a chance if Portugal continues to feed the vanity project of Cristiano Ronaldo”, said Kelly. “I think he should refuse to play for Portugal if Martínez continues to put Ronaldo in the starting eleven”.

“Ronaldo wasn’t good enough in the last European Championship, and probably wasn’t good enough in the last World Championship either. Now, we’re in 2026, and the guy simply doesn’t give up”, he highlighted.

“Some of the friendly videos were a bit embarrassingwith Ronaldo losing individual duels, not passing to teammates better positioned in the penalty area”, said the Brit: “I seem finished. And it seems that Roberto Martínez has simply accepted the fact that being Portugal coach is equivalent to betting on Ronaldo as a prerequisite.”

And Kelly didn’t stop there:

“The Portuguese Football Federation is obsessed with Ronaldo’s weight and the money he brings. Someone needs to take a stand and put an end to this. Bruno Fernandes, being one of Portugal’s key players and stars, has to go to Roberto Martínez and say that Ronaldo cannot be in the starting eleven”, he said. “Otherwise, he leaves the team and goes home, because Ronaldo is ruining his and his teammates’ chances of winning the World Cup and damaging his own legacy. If Ronaldo cared about Portugal, he would have retired some time ago,” he highlighted.

“Traffic pin”

Even before the game with Nigeria, commentator João Maria Jonet emerged as one of the harshest critics of Ronaldo’s performance for the national team.

In an image on social media by former Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, it was possible to see several bottles lined up to represent the Seleção players, with the caption: “The starting eleven with Nelson Semedo on the right”, Jonet responded with an indirect: “The spearhead is missing a transit pin there”.

“You have to ‘step’ more often”

Even Ryanair criticized Ronaldo’s performance, teasing him on social media with some “jet lag”.

More than 12 hours after the game, the airline took advantage of a publication by Ronaldo himself, in which the striker wrote “step by step” next to images of training, to leave a provocation.

“He needs to step more often”, wrote the Ryanair page.

he needs to passo more often

— Ryanair (@Ryanair)

Ronaldo and World Cup goals

With eight goals, Ronaldo is the second highest Portuguese scorer in world cups, behind Eusébio (9). But he is also the one who participated in the most editions (5) and the most games (22).

The player who played the most games was left blank

Cristiano, the fifth player with the most appearances in World Cups, is the player who has gone the most games without scoring in the final stages of World Cups: they were 16 games without making your feet taste bad.

Never scored or assisted in elimination stages

Furthermore, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 0 goals and 0 assists in post-group stage games of World Championships.

After the elimination against Morocco in the 2022 World Cup, AS highlighted how Ronaldo had just made his eighth presence in elimination games, in which, in 27 shotszero entered the opposing goal.

After all, is he really worse? Numbers say yes

The captain’s recent numbers, provided by Sofascore and analyzed by , point to a drop in performance: fewer goals, fewer shots taken, fewer opportunities created and fewer dribbles, while there are an increase in the number of great opportunities wasted at Martínez’s service.

With the Spanish coach, Ronaldo scored 18 goals in official games, but wasted 26 big chances. On average, misses almost one clear chance per game.

In this aspect, Ronaldo is getting worse. Between 2019 and 2026, the average number of big missed opportunities increased mainly following the move from Juventus to Manchester United and then to Al-Nassr. Before that, values ​​fluctuated between 0.3 and 0.5 per game; in recent seasons, they rose to 0.7, 0.8 or even 0.9.

What hasn’t changed is the focus on the Portuguese star within the four lines. Excluding friendlies, Ronaldo started 27 of the 28 official games under the current coach. The difference is in management: unlike Fernando Santos, Martínez has replaced the striker more often. In 28 official games, Ronaldo was substituted in 11 — almost 40% of the matches.

In terms of goal efficiency, the difference between the two selectors is small, says the data. With Fernando Santos, Ronaldo scored a goal every 98 minutes; with Martínez, he does it every 104 minutes. But his overall contribution seems more limited: in the five official games this season, all in the World Cup qualifiers, he added just one key pass and didn’t create any big opportunities.