Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of “waddling around the field like a grandad” during Portugal’s World Cup defeat to Spain last night.
The 41-year-old was a peripheral figure as Roberto Martinez’s men went down 1-0 thanks to Mikel Merino’s injury-time strike in Dallas.
Martinez has been accused of indulging Ronaldo with many pundits believing new AC Milan signing Goncalo Ramos should have been given more of an opportunity.
Ramos did not get off the bench against Spain with Ronaldo playing the whole game, a decision that led to some stinging criticism from BBC pundit Chris Sutton.
Sutton, who was a key member of the Blackburn Rovers side that won the Premier League in 1995, said on commentary for Radio 5 Live: “He’s waddling around the field like a grandad, that’s why Portugal are out. Cristiano Ronaldo does nothing; he did nothing. What is Roberto Martinez doing? How can you pander to a player so much? Portugal are out because of Roberto Martinez.”
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Sutton says Martinez had to be stronger over Ronaldo
Ronaldo made his 233rd appearance for Portugal last night and admitted after the game he would now go away and consider his international future.
And Sutton indicated he feels it is now Ramos’ time.
He added: “How did Goncalo Ramos not get on the pitch? It’s an absolute embarrassment from the manager, just pandering to his star player.
“He’s the most decorated player that Portugal have ever had but you’ve got to be stronger than that.”
Martinez, who yesterday confirmed he would leave his post after his side’s elimination, had nothing but praise for Ronaldo.
“He’s been an exemplary captain,” he said.
“I arrived with Portugal at a time with a lot of confusion and doubts about Cristiano, and he’s been a role model, not just with goals and assists, what he does in the box, his commitment, how he experiences football. He’s an example, we have to celebrate him.
“We’re talking about an icon in football. There aren’t many Cristiano Ronaldos. We have to be thankful for what he did at this World Cup, he wanted to win it, as a player, a captain, on a human level, we’ll all take it with us forever. An example as the human being who is behind the sportsman.”
Martinez defends decision to keep Ronaldo on
Martinez also defended his decision to stick with Ronaldo and keep Ramos on the bench.
“When you’re a team and you need a goal you can’t take Cristiano Ronaldo off,” Martinez added. “He can play 90 minutes, no problem. He’s a presence, he opens space, a dead-ball situation, anything in the box, it would make no sense.
“In extra time it probably would have made sense to use Goncalo Ramos. We had to keep the structure, it wasn’t the case to take your top scorer off in the 90 minutes.”
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