Portugal’s head coach Roberto Martínez described comparisons between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi or Erling Haaland as “childish” following the 41-year-old’s full 90-minute performance in a goalless draw against Colombia.
When asked why Ronaldo—the first player to score in six different World Cups—was not given rest like Messi and Haaland, Martínez responded, “We don’t compare ourselves to players from other teams. That would be childish.”
He emphasized Ronaldo’s knack for being in the right place at the right time, attributing it to psychological resilience, consistent positional discipline, and his ability to create space within Portugal’s attacking patterns.
“For Cristiano, playing the entire 90 minutes is not a problem, but perhaps in the next match, we may need to make a substitution, just like with any other player,” Martínez added.
He noted that the team has used 21 outfield players so far, so playing time is distributed among them.
Martínez explained that his decisions are based on players’ physical condition data.
“We monitor all the information we gather during matches and training sessions, and there is always the possibility to make changes,” he said.
“Today, we used João Neves and Rúben Neves for 45 minutes each. We did the same with Diogo Dalot and João Cancelo because different positions require different conditions.”
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