At the age of 38, Cristiano Ronaldo keeps the physical conditions intact to be part of the Portuguese national team, even if he is playing in Saudi Arabia, in Al Nassr, a peripheral championship and far from the Premier League limelight, where he defended the colors of Manchester United. This is the result of a survey by Aximage, carried out for JN, DN and TSF, in which 48% of respondents approve of CR7’s integration in Roberto Martínez’s eleven, while 29% think that the forward should not play at first, 11 % consider that it should not even be summoned, and, finally, 12% have no opinion. This is before today’s game against Liechtenstein, at the start of qualifying for Euro 2024.
Respondents who support Sporting, the club that trained Cristiano Ronaldo for football, are the biggest supporters of the captain of the Portuguese team, followed by fans of F. C. Porto and Benfica. In the last World Cup 2022, remember, CR7 was in the starting line-up in Portugal’s three group games, but ended up relegated to the bench in the round of 16 and in the quarters, against Switzerland and Morocco, respectively. In the duel with South Korea, he didn’t like being substituted, which caused controversy and strained his relationship with Fernando Santos.
Today’s game marks the debut of Spaniard Roberto Martínez as national coach. In his resume, this coach led Belgium to third place in the 2018 World Cup, but this feat seems to have gone unnoticed by respondents. In the survey, 47% of the people surveyed do not know if the coach was the right choice to replace Fernando Santos in the position of coach, while the margin between those who agree with the choice (24%) and those who disagree (27%) is minimal . The new manager, who worked for the Belgian national team and also in English football at Swansea City, Wigan and Everton, signed a contract until 2026 and has the mission of taking the Portuguese team to Euro 2024 and the 2026 World Cup.
Read more in Jornal de Notícias
