Having been Portugal’s most used player this summer in Germany – featuring for 485 minutes, 94% of possible time – Ronaldo remains a big part of coach Roberto Martinez’s plans.
So far, the Al-Nassr striker has repaid his faith by scoring twice in two games as the Selecao got their Nations League campaign under way last month.
With Portugal travelling to face Poland this Saturday, he will be hoping to build on that and keep defying the doubters by adding to his 905 career goals. Martinez is certainly not one of them.
“It’s very difficult to be Ronaldo,” the Spanish manager told website Zerozero.
“It makes sense to ask about his age, but we monitored his performance [during the Euros] through statistics, which show he was well used. I have confidential information to back it up.”
Expresso, a leading weekly Portuguese newspaper, has ironically referred to them as ‘top secret’ numbers. Whatever they are, they have been enough to justify Ronaldo’s place in the team for the 2026 World Cup cycle.
“The whole debate is not about his age, but much more than that,” Tomas da Cunha, a football pundit for Dazn and TSF radio, told BBC Sport.
“Pepe was 41 and yet his performances were largely praised in the summer. Ronaldo’s, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired in the last World Cup and Euros. Fernando Santos [former Portugal coach] tried to end his untouchable status, but with Martinez that hasn’t happened.”
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