Cristiano Ronaldo is going through one of his toughest seasons as a professional. Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t think Ronaldo is a key part of his squad this season. Ronaldo has come off the bench in 5 out of his 6 Premier League appearances. With 2 starts in his two Europa League games with the team so far this season. In the Premier League Ronaldo is averaging 34 minutes played per game, the average is helped out by his one start, and the fact that we have gotten through too many games this season yet.
Perhaps what is most concerning is that he’s got no Premier League goals so far this season. His only goal for the club has come in the Europa League. Taking all of this into account, how many minutes could he realistically play for Portugal in the upcoming World Cup? Will the Portuguese team actually benefit from the fact that he’s not getting a lot of usage at Manchester United up to this point?
He Has A Lot Of Players That Can Play Around Him
There are two main benefits for Cristiano Ronaldo despite the fact that Portugal boss Fernando Santos may be worried about his lack of playing time. Number one, he will be fresh by the time the World Cup comes around. That could’ve been a real problem if things were the other way around. Too many minutes on his body at this point in his career going into such a quick tournament like the World Cup may not have been ideal. The other benefit that Portugal is going to have is the fact that they have a ton of players that could play around him. Rafa Leao, Joao Felix, even Goncalo Guedes just to name a few.
With this in mind you have to think that with this squad the burden won’t necessarily fall on Cristiano Ronaldo completely. Particularly when it comes to leadership, and goal scoring which are the two departments that he’s still best at. There are other players in Portugal that can take up that Center Forward spot as well. Is it time for Portugal to maybe move on without Ronaldo in the starting 11? That was something that was certainly unthinkable even just a couple of months ago. Today the question is certainly more relevant.
Should He Be The Team’s Starting Striker?
Despite the fact that Portugal could use some of the other guys that we talked about, and even someone like Andre Silva up front, there’s no one else that’s going to spark fear in the opposing defense like Ronaldo does. That’s not just something that’s an intangible benefit. The presence of Ronaldo on the pitch opens up spaces for his teammates in a way that we just can’t see happening with some of the other guys. Plus Fernando Santos can craft an extremely offensive starting 11 if he chooses.
Now, there’s also an argument to be made that Ronaldo fresh off the bench could bring that spark to the team in the second half of games. With the tournament being so quick could you really expect Ronaldo to play 60 or more minutes per game? We’re actually having the same questions about Messi. It’s a real quick turnaround time between games. At this stage in their career they could actually both benefit from limited minutes. Whatever the case may be with Ronaldo and his minutes this may very well be the best Portugal squad that he’s been a part of. Maybe only compared to the Euro 2004 squad that lost in the finals. The current Portugal squad is even better than the one that won the Euros!
