Cristiano Ronaldo is being judged as much by Portugal’s structure as by his finishing at the ongoing World Cup. Roberto Martinez has used him as a lone striker, and the result has been a team that looks built around one man even when that man is not enough to carry it alone.
That debate has sharpened because Portugal’s results have not matched the scale of the scrutiny. They drew 1-1 in one group-stage match, went goalless against Colombia and only beat Uzbekistan, 5-0, with Ronaldo scoring a brace. He was still Portugal’s highest-rated attacking player in the FIFA Power Rankings for the group stage, which is why the criticism sounds more complicated than a simple case of poor form.
For Ronaldo, the pressure is not new. He and Lionel Messi have defined modern football for nearly two decades, but the comparison now cuts in a different direction. Argentina have been able to function more independently of Messi under Lionel Scaloni, while Portugal have appeared too focused on making Ronaldo their centrepiece. That difference matters because it turns a star into a test of team design: if the system only works when one forward is decisive, then every quiet spell becomes a crisis.
The friction inside that setup has shown up beyond the pitch. Fans and former players have accused Martinez of over-reliance on Ronaldo, yet the reported rift with Bruno Fernandes has its own explanation: it stemmed from Ronaldo’s exit in his second Manchester United stint. Viral videos from Portugal’s training sessions during the 2022 World Cup made that split visible, and the problem has never fully disappeared from the conversation around this squad.
Portugal’s midfield should, on paper, offer more. Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Neves and Vitinha give Martinez options between the lines and in possession, but the team has still struggled to turn that talent into a clean attacking rhythm. Against DR Congo, Portugal often bypassed Ronaldo in the build-up and leaned more heavily on the flanks, a reminder that the side can drift away from its centrepiece when the match demands it.
That is the real issue now: whether Martinez is making a tactical choice out of loyalty to Ronaldo or masking deeper limits elsewhere in the team. The answer may not be flattering either way. If Portugal keep searching for a version of themselves that can only be built around Ronaldo, the scrutiny will stay on the captain, but the larger problem will remain with the team that keeps asking him to solve it.
