Portugal’s head coach, Roberto Martinez, reckons it would be childish to compare Ronaldo’s needs to the likes of Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland. Ronaldo played throughout the 90 minutes in the team’s goalless draw against Colombia on Saturday, which was their last group stage match.
The veteran striker looked harmless throughout the match as he failed to create an impact. Colombia dominated the second half and they were able to keep Martinez’s team on the back foot.
Ronaldo, the 41-year-old, has played all 270 minutes of his country’s Group K fixtures.
“We don’t compare with other players of other teams,” Martinez said when asked about Ronaldo being rested like Haaland or Messi. “That would be childish.
“Cristiano is used to being in the right place at the right time. It’s more a question of mentally being strong and always being disciplined in position and always opening space in our attacking patterns.
“It’s not an issue for Cristiano to play 90 minutes, but maybe the next game we need to make a change, but that’s like any other player.
“We have used 21 outfield players, so we do share the minutes.
“We monitor all the information we get in games, what we do in training games and there is always an opportunity to make changes.
“Today, we used João Neves and Rúben Neves for 45 minutes, we did the same with Diogo Dalot and João Cancelo because different positions have different needs.
“There are some players who are not at full fitness, but all of the data we collect is very important in helping us make those decisions.”
As Portugal could not top their group, it means they can meet Euro champions Spain in the round of 16.
“Now it’s time to adjust, improve, and steer the matches where we want them, with more possession and better control,” he said. “This is part of the World Cup, part of the existing tactics, and as I said, we needed these three matches to reach our best level. It was a very valuable match.
“We want to be here for eight matches and it is a different tournament now.”
Portugal will face Croatia in the round of 32.
