Portugal boss gives verdict on purtegeos football Cristiano Ronaldo’s on-field woes ahead of FIFA World Cup
Fernando Santos has revealed his thoughts on Cristiano Ronaldo not being able to register any goal during the Czech Republic vs Portugal, UEFA Nations Cup game.
Portugal boss Fernando Santos has shed his thoughts on Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent woes on the field. Ronaldo featured in Portugal’s first match of the international break in the UEFA Nations Cup on Saturday, but failed to register a goal, despite the team claiming a massive 4-0 win against the UEFA Nations League A Group 2 rivals. While Diogo Dalot scored a brace in the match, Bruno Fernandes scored and assisted a goal each, before Diogo Jota struck in the last 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo had a relatively quieter outing and provided only an assist to Diogo Jota. On being asked about the Manchester United superstar’s performance on Saturday, Portugal coach Santos admitted that Ronaldo has three or four chances to score. In the meantime, the manager also revealed that he is not worried about the recent struggles of Ronaldo.
Fernando Santos backs Portugal captain
As reported by Portugues sports daily O Jogo, Santos said, “Football is like that. He [Cristiano Ronaldo] had three or four chances to score, sometimes he hit badly, other times he hit well but didn’t score, it’s part of football. He worked a lot for the team. If he hadn’t opened the spaces, the goals wouldn’t have come.”
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The coach then continued to heap praise on the 37-year-old and said he believes Portugal wouldn’t have scored goals if Ronaldo had not created the space. “Of course, we all expect goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, but we all also expect goals from the Portuguese team and he too. He is happy because we won and we won well,” he added. The Portuguese team will now face Spain in their next Nations League match on September 27.
Ronaldo’s performance for Manchester United
It is pertinent to mention that, Ronaldo has had a slow season so far with Manchester United, under the new manager Erik ten Hag. He has played for a limited time under the Dutch manager, having featured in eight games across competitions so far. However, he has featured in the starting line-up for the Red Devils, only once this season.
He opened his tally of goals for United earlier this month when he converted a penalty during United’s 2-0 win against Sheriff in the UEFA Europa League. He was the team’s top goal scorer last season, with a total of 24 goals in 39 games across competitions. Out of the total, he scored 18 goals in 30 Premier League games and six Champions League goals in seven outings.
