Paul Scholes believes Portugal have a Cristiano Ronaldo problem after the striker’s poor display in his team’s FIFA World Cup opener on Thursday. Portugal toiled in a frustrating 1-1 draw against DR Congo, with Ronaldo labouring through a full 90 minutes and managing just 25 touches and three shots, all of which were off-target.
Scholes, a former Manchester United teammate of Ronaldo's, thinks the 41-year-old's age has finally caught up with him and that he should be starting the last 15 minutes of games, not the full 90. He believes Ronaldo's movement is a problem in transition games and that Portugal doesn't have an outstanding centre-forward to compensate.
This isn't the first time Ronaldo has faced criticism for his performances in major tournaments. In the 2022 World Cup, then-manager Fernando Santos benched him for the knockout stages, but Ronaldo was eventually reinstated by Roberto Martinez.
With Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick and Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane all scoring braces, the spotlight has intensified on Ronaldo’s forgettable display. Scholes believes Ronaldo would be ‘hurting’ and that Martinez is trying to embrace it, but deep down must know it’s hurting his team.
