Portugal manager Roberto Martínez saw no point in subbing out Cristiano Ronaldo despite his complete lack of an impact during the country’s 1-1 draw against Congo DR on Wednesday.
“It makes no sense to get the best goal scorer in world football out in a game that you need goals,” he told reporters.
While Ronaldo has scored the most international goals in history (143), he’s now gone 10 straight matches at the World Cup and Euros without finding the back of the net.
In other words, calling him the best scorer in world football a day after Lionel Messi had a hat trick and Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland each had braces—and one match before Harry Kane also posted a brace—is a Reed Richards-level stretch.
For all of Ronaldo’s many goal-scoring achievements, his eight goals in 23 World Cup matches is tied for 26th in the history of the tournament (and half of rival Lionel Messi’s outlay). There have long been calls to utilize Ronaldo as a substitute, not a starter, but Martínez’s comments on Wednesday would suggest that such a change probably isn’t coming.
