Portugal walked away from their World Cup opener against the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a 1-1 draw that felt more like a loss. And Cristiano Ronaldo is the one taking the heat.
The Al-Nassr striker had a rough night. No goals. Few chances. A lot of frustrated arm-waving. And the comparison to Lionel Messi — who bagged the tournament’s first hat-trick a day earlier — isn’t helping his case at all.
The numbers are brutal
Here’s the stat that’s making rounds on Portuguese talk radio and social media: Ronaldo has now gone ten straight appearances at the European Championship and World Cup without scoring. Ten matches. Zero goals.
Let’s run through them. Uruguay, South Korea, Switzerland and Morocco at the 2022 World Cup. Czechia, Turkey, Georgia, Slovenia and France at Euro 2024. And now DR Congo. That’s ten games, 33 total shots, and only 11 of those were on target.
For a guy who built his entire brand on scoring, that’s not a slump. That’s a pattern.
People in Portugal are starting to ask the question out loud: should he be benched? It’s not just angry fans on X either. Some pundits are quietly wondering if Roberto Martinez has the guts to make that call. Ronaldo is still the captain, still the face of the program, still the guy who sells jerseys in every corner of the globe. But his production in major tournaments has flatlined.
The team isn’t playing well either. Portugal was disjointed against DR Congo, struggled to connect passes in the final third, and looked like a group that hasn’t figured out its identity yet. Ronaldo’s struggles are part of a bigger problem, but he’s the easiest target because of who he is.
At 41, he’s still an elite athlete by any standard. But elite athletes don’t always age gracefully on the field. His game was never built on subtlety or clever movement off the ball. It was built on explosion, power and ruthless finishing. When those start to fade, the whole thing wobbles.
Martinez has options. João Félix can play through the middle. Gonçalo Ramos is younger, faster and hungry. Diogo Jota can do things Ronaldo can’t anymore. But benching the all-time leading scorer in men’s international soccer is a decision that comes with serious political weight. The federation knows it. The locker room knows it. Everyone knows it.
Portugal’s next group match is against a tough Serbia side. If Ronaldo starts again and goes scoreless for an eleventh straight game, the conversation will get louder. And at some point, the legacy protection stops being a valid reason to keep a guy on the field.
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