"Cristiano cannot be replaced." That's Roberto Martínez, speaking before the tournament, explaining why a 41-year-old operating almost exclusively inside the penalty box would start every single minute of Portugal's group stage.
So far, Ronaldo has two goals from an xG of 2.5. Performing slightly below the basic expectation at the one job he's been given. Martínez has shown zero inclination to reduce his minutes. And the entire Portuguese squad — from Bruno Fernandes to João Neves to Vitinha — has been subjected to coordinated social media pile-ons from Ronaldo's fanbase, demanding they serve him better. This is not a sideshow. This is the structure.
What Ronaldo actually offers now
The acceleration is gone. The dribbles, the step-overs — gone. He operates almost entirely in the box now, waiting for the ball to come to him, getting shots away. One analyst described this version of Ronaldo as "serviceable." Another, who works with professional clubs across Europe, put it more pointedly: "He doesn't work for the team — they seem compelled to work for him."
Against Uzbekistan he scored twice and was celebrated. Against DR Congo he was poor and vilified. Against Colombia — a genuinely good side — he was quiet. The binary nature of his role makes every match feel like a verdict. Portugal's depth, their pressing structure, the movement of Pedro Neto and Rafael Leão — all of it gets filtered through one question: did Ronaldo score?
There was one moment of genuine cleverness. Against Uzbekistan, Ronaldo stood over a free kick, made a small feint forward, and let Nuno Mendes stroke it into the bottom right while the keeper arranged his wall for the predictable top-left thunderbolt. The "Uzbek feint," as it's being called — using his own reputation as a weapon. Smart, effective, and a reminder of what elite game intelligence looks like even when the legs are gone.
The numbers working against him
Ronaldo is now Portugal's leading scorer at World Cups, passing Eusébio's nine. He's the first player in history to score in six different World Cup finals tournaments. Those are real records. But the Golden Boot — which his manager presumably wants him chasing — has been won by a player over 30 exactly once in history. The average age of the winner is 24.5. Ronaldo is 41.
FIFA didn't help the optics either. After Ronaldo received a red card for elbowing in a qualifier — which should have triggered a three-match ban covering Portugal's first two group games — FIFA made an unusual intervention and reduced it to one match. Whether that decision was sporting or commercial is a question nobody at FIFA seems keen to answer.
Portugal entered this tournament as sixth favorites. That price reflects a squad with genuine quality beyond Ronaldo — Leão, Fernandes, Neves, Vitinha are all players who could start for most top-ten nations. The question for anyone pricing Portugal deep into the knockout rounds isn't whether those players are good enough. It's whether the team can actually function as a team when its entire identity has been restructured around one aging striker who contributes nothing defensively and almost nothing in build-up play.
Martínez says Ronaldo cannot be replaced. The analytics community says he's barely adequate in the role he does have. Both things might be true — and that tension is exactly what will define how far Portugal go.
