Cristiano Ronaldo had a really underwhelming performance in Portugal‘s disappointing 2026 World Cup debut when they drew vs. DR Congo. Many even called to bench CR7, but manager Roberto Martinez isn’t even considering that decision.
During the postgame interview, Roberto Martinez clarified why he didn’t take Ronaldo out of the game against DR Congo. “It makes no sense to take off the greatest goal-scorer in football history in a match where we need to score goals. His experience in the penalty area is crucial. When we think about scoring goals, Cristiano must be present.”
To be fair, while Ronaldo wasn’t stellar by any stretch, Portugal as a whole looked flawed and lacked ideas. Ronaldo is 41 years old, he can’t dribble all game long, but he can still score. Portugal just didn’t give him any clear chances. However, that didn’t stop Thierry Henry from giving Ronaldo a lesson of how to play as a striker for Portugal.
Cristiano Ronaldo vs. DR Congo
Ronaldo wasn’t able to produce much against DR Congo and it can be explained in three ways. First and foremost, he is past his prime, he can’t create his own chances and relies too much on what his teammates can do outside of the box.
Then, his teammates weren’t able to create chances for him so he barely touched the ball. Lastly, DR Congo knew they were the underdogs and needed to survive, hence they used a very low block of defense and overpopulated the center of the defense, hence Ronaldo was always surrounded by three or four defenders.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been benched previously during World Cups
While Martinez assured CR7 will remain as the team’s starting srtiker, the fact is that Ronaldo was already benched during a World Cup back in Qatar 2022. Despite Martinez’s rejection of the idea of benching him, last time it worked.
It was Fernando Santos in 2022 who benched Ronaldo after the group stage. He opted to use Goncalo Ramos as striker instead of him and Ramos delivered a hat-trick in the Round of 16. Ramos is also Ronaldo’s backup in this tournament.
