On 20 August 2003 Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut for Portugal, and he never looked back. Alongside him in that friendly against Kazakhstan were players such as Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Deco, all of whom the boy from Madeira would leave in the shade to become the greatest ever footballer for his country.
Almost 20 years have gone by since that summer day, and Ronaldo remains unwaveringly the team’s star man.
All eyes will again be on the captain when Portugal play their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ opener against Ghana, on 24 November. Ronaldo will still be the centre point around which the side is built. Having scored 117 goals in a Portugal shirt, he has more than earned his special status. In recent months, however, and for the first time, his role in the team has been brought into question.
Despite failing to find the net in his last nine matches for Portugal, Ronaldo still has the backing of his teammates, Bernardo Silva told FIFA.
“The reality is when you’ve got a player like Cristiano, it’s natural that sometimes you play for him because he can win you the game in the final minutes,” says the Manchester City man.
“The same goes for other countries. It’s natural, for example, that France always look to [Kylian] Mbappe because he can decide a match at any time. Brazil have Neymar and with Argentina it’s Lionel Messi.
“When you have these kinds of players on your side, you have to take advantage of them, although I agree you can’t become overdependent on them as this can disrupt the team dynamics. But, if we get it right, having Cristiano in our team will be a powerful weapon,” he adds.
That is the hope for Portugal in what will be the veteran’s fifth World Cup. He has scored in all four of the previous tournaments he has taken part in (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018).
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