Somehow, the Portugal national team is still The Cristiano Ronaldo Show

You wonder what life with the Portuguese national team will be like when Cristiano Ronaldo finally exits stage left.

Perhaps it’ll be like Dallas when Bobby Ewing died. The show was panned without him and actor Patrick Duffy’s career went downhill, so, they just brought him back from the dead. They could give Ronaldo a coaching role, he’s basically one already.

Or Portugal could thrive without their leading figure, like Game of Thrones without Ned Stark. Perhaps it’ll be the making of a golden generation of forwards who can finally express themselves properly.

Who knows. It feels like we’ll never, ever find out.

Anyway, we got yet another glimpse of the latter in Lisbon on Sunday night when others came to the fore in a thrilling 5-2 (5-3 on aggregate) Nations League quarter-final win over Denmark.

Sporting’s Francisco Trincao, once of Wolves on loan in the Premier League, announced himself on the international stage with two fine finishes to swing the tie in Portugal’s favour, Diogo Jota helped carve open the stubborn Danes with a bulldozing cameo from the bench, perennial No.9 in waiting Goncalo Ramos sealed the tie with his eighth goal in 15 caps (seven starts), Francisco Conceicao was sprightly and lively, Nuno Mendes was commandingly dynamic, Bruno Fernandes came to the fore again…and yet…

What’s that phrase? Main character energy? It’s hard to imagine a footballer with more of it than Ronaldo, the greatest footballer who has ever lived (in his own words).

In case you missed it, here’s a snapshot of Ronaldo’s international break. Remember, all he actually did was score one goal from close range and yet he still managed to be the star of the show for four days in a row.

Thursday: Portugal lose 1-0 to Denmark in the first leg in Copenhagen but, as well as manager Roberto Martinez, Ronaldo is the centre of the fallout back home for his miserable performance of only one shot off target.

Friday: Pretty much any story about the match focuses on Rasmus Hojlund’s copycat ‘siuuu’ celebration.

Saturday: Ronaldo gives a press conference in which he takes aim at the Portuguese press, including at one journalist in particular who makes the mistake of looking at his laptop (presumably, you know, to type what Ronaldo is saying) instead of directly into his eyes.

“I’ve watched some press conferences in the last few days and I didn’t like what I saw,” Ronaldo, clearly with a bit too much time on his hands in the team hotel, says.

“When someone asks a question I want you to look me in the eyes, not down at your computer, you have time to look at your computer afterwards.

“Look at me when you talk and speak the truth. If I have to say this 10 times, I’ll say it 10 times.We are prepared for tomorrow, not to play how we did a few days ago.”

Sunday: Ronaldo wins a penalty in the third minute and takes it himself, producing what might be the worst spot kick of his career when he stutters, stops and telegraphs a soft, low penalty which Kasper Schmeichel saves.

For much of the match it feels like Ronaldo versus Schmeichel, with the keeper making three saves from the Portugal striker, while the pair (with a combined aged of 78) also squabble over the ball like teenagers when trying to retrieve it out the net after Portugal’s opening goal.

(Pedro Loureiro/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Ronaldo eventually scores Portugal’s second on the night, after a Fernandes shot cannons off the post and rebounds off Schmeichel, leading to a tidy finish from a tight angle.

And then he is surprisingly subbed off on 90 minutes, grimacing and perhaps injured as he leaves the field, before basically managing the team at full-time and then during extra time, cajoling team mates and whipping up the crowd while the camera incessantly pans to him. After extra time is done he spends more time chatting to Denmark boss Brian Riemer than Martinez, in a manner Jason Tindall would be proud of.

You’ll probably either find the above infuriating in a ‘he always has to make it all about him’ kind of way, or absolutely hilarious in a ‘dramatic diva who always creates drama’ manner.

But whether you think it’s time for Portugal to move on without the Al Nassr player is a moot point. He’s going nowhere.

A far more pertinent (albeit still not much more realistic) question is whether Portugal should start to move on without him. You know, maybe bring him off the bench once in a while, or don’t have him playing the full 90 minutes.

Martinez clearly doesn’t think so. You may remember him only subbing Ronaldo off once during Euro 2024 (in a dead rubber against Georgia) despite not scoring during the tournament and generally looking like a 39-year-old who could no longer run, jump or head the ball to anywhere near the incredibly high standards he had previously set.

(Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)

And yet Ronaldo scored five goals in six Nations League group games in the autumn. He remains, at his sharpest and when provided with good service, a fantastic and prolific goalscorer (15 goals in 15 Euros qualifiers and Nations League group games combined), certainly against limited opponents.

It’s just that there is a predictable story on the horizon; get to the World Cup, play every minute, fail to impress (he has scored one goal, a penalty, in 10 appearances in the last Euros and World Cup combined).

Any annoyance back in Portugal isn’t at Ronaldo playing, it’s at how much he plays, and a perception that is Martinez is afraid or unable to drop him and even reluctant to substitute him.

When Martinez also has Rafael Leao (although he again failed to shine in a Portugal shirt here), Conceicao, Trincao, Ramos and Jota, not to mention Joao Felix on the bench, Pedro Neto who was sent back to Chelsea after the first leg, consistent domestic performers like Pedro Goncalves, or future Chelsea player Geovany Quenda coming through, backed up by the brilliant Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves and Vitinha in midfield, there is no shortage of dazzling options.

But as we saw at a disappointing Euros, or in Copenhagen last week, or for 86 minutes in Lisbon before the impressive Danes finally started to creak, there is a worry Portugal are full of stars but aren’t a functional team.

Martinez isn’t near his Belgium farewell point yet, but had Portugal not squeaked through in extra time here the murmurings about his suitability for the job would have grown to a more audible level of discontent.

“I have a lot of experience, I’m calm,” he said on Sunday. “When the team loses, it’s my fault, when it wins, it’s the players.”

Will he make it to the World Cup? Probably. Will Ronaldo? It’s not even a question worth asking.

(Header photo: Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)

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