Manchester United didn’t want Cristiano Ronaldo. Now Portugal has thrown him out. On Tuesday, the team he captained for a long time beat Switzerland by 6-1. However, the star forward didn’t do much. Goncalo Ramos took the place of Ronaldo and scored a hat trick to get people’s attention.
Cristiano Ronaldo seems a bystander as Portugal find alternatives at World Cup
Ronaldo went to the World Cup looking for a break after a hard season at Manchester United, where he had become a bit player. In an angry TV interview last month, he yelled at the club and coach, leading to their relationship’s end. The 37-year-old arrived in Qatar to the usual cheers of the world’s media.
In Portugal’s first game, they beat Ghana 3-2, and he scored the first penalty. He was the first person to score at five World Cups. Then things started to get worse. He made a lot of noise about Uruguay and South Korea. But Portugal was less than the sum of those two countries. Fernando Santos, who won the Euro 2016 with Portugal, didn’t play his best player against Switzerland, and he was right.
Ramos, a 21-year-old player for Benfica, scored three goals as Portugal’s attack moved freely. Cries of “Ronaldo” could be heard all over Doha’s Lusail Stadium as he warmed up after the game. With 15 minutes left in the game, Santos scored. Ronaldo’s first shot after coming on was a free kick that hit the wall.
When he scored a few minutes later, he was offside. Rafael Leao scored in the last second to seal the thrashing and show how deep Santos is. After the win, which sets up a quarterfinal against Morocco, the coach, who has been in charge since 2014, has full faith in all his forwards.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo might play in Qatar, Santos said. Ronaldo, who scored 118 goals in men’s international football, will probably miss Saturday’s quarterfinal, despite his coach’s statement. He also doesn’t have a team, but there are rumors that the Saudi team Al-Nassr will pay him a lot of money to join them. If he has to sit on the bench for the game against Morocco, he’ll have time to think about when he was the future.
