Portugal’s national team is gearing up for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 tournament, and there are some intriguing questions surrounding the team’s star player, Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite being 39 years old, Ronaldo remains a key figure in the dressing room and shows no signs of retiring from international football. In fact, he has expressed his goal of reaching 250 caps for Portugal, currently sitting at 207.
However, there is a growing sentiment among fans that Portugal performs better without Ronaldo. Football pundit Sofia Oliveira believes that his presence in the team conditions other players and leads to a search for Ronaldo in situations that don’t benefit the team. She also points out that Ronaldo’s positional anarchy affects other players as he tends to track back to areas already occupied by his teammates.
Oliveira suggests that Ronaldo’s impact would be greater coming off the bench rather than starting matches. She believes that his overall performance often includes more negative actions than positive ones. A Bola, Portugal’s most traditional sports newspaper, even suggests that the right question should be when the team’s normality should be the absence of Ronaldo rather than his presence.
With all the focus on Ronaldo, it’s important not to overlook the emergence of Bruno Fernandes as Portugal’s new main man. Although he had an inconsistent season with Manchester United, Fernandes has become a key player for Portugal under manager Roberto Martinez. He has contributed six goals and eight assists in 10 qualifiers, showcasing his ability to play alongside Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva.
Portugal’s unbeaten qualifying campaign for Euro 2024 has raised expectations for the team. They scored the most goals and conceded the fewest among all nations during the qualifiers. However, there is a feeling that they haven’t been truly tested yet, as their friendly defeat against Croatia highlighted some weaknesses.
Despite the doubts surrounding Ronaldo’s role in the team and the need for Fernandes to step up, Portugal’s abundance of individual talent makes them strong contenders to win the tournament. The team’s best generation ever, as Oliveira describes it, gives them the potential to lift the European Championship trophy once again.