Portugal are a better team with Cristiano Ronaldo – Dalot | OneFootball

Ronaldo still vital, says Dalot (Getty Images)

Portugal remain a more fearsome team when Cristiano Ronaldo is on the team sheet, according to his international colleague Diogo Dalot.

Questions over Ronaldo’s role with the Seleção have rumbled on for years now, with some still unconvinced by his guaranteed status as Portugal’s leading man heading into this summer’s World Cup.

For Dalot, who will likely be part of Roberto Martínez's squad this summer, the issue is one he has followed both at club and international level. When Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in 2021 at the age of 36, many in England criticised his lack of mobility and off-the-ball pressure in the Premier League.

Ronaldo largely silenced his doubters with goals in his second spell at Old Trafford, netting an impressive 18 goals in the English top flight and a further 6 in the Champions League, recording a total of 24 goals from 38 appearances in all competitions. Speaking to United legend Rio Ferdinand in an extensive interview this week, Dalot was asked by Ferdinand about the much-discussed issue of Ronaldo pressing for the team, which first arose at United.

“You know how he thinks: he has to have energy to score goals,” Dalot explained. “It’s almost like he’s thinking ‘okay, you want goals? I need to be fresh, so when we win the ball I can be in the box and feel fresh in the mind’ Even in that short period of time [at United] he was really decisive for us and you see how many goals he scored.

“I think we [Portugal] will always be a better team and a more dangerous team with him on the pitch. If you ask me if he can run like he used to run for 90 minutes five or six years ago, of course not. But he is the one who adapts really well. He knows ‘okay, I feel a bit more fatigued, but I need to do one or two more pressings here because the team needs momentum’ he will do it.

“And it’s not that he cannot run. If you see the data, he still has some pretty good sprint distances in high speed. He can reach some good levels.

“What I would say is when the other teams see Cristiano in the line-up, it’s not going to be the same if he’s not there. And you have to play with that also. He knows and he actually says ‘come into the box with me, at least one guy will be marking me all the time, because they cannot leave me alone or it’s a goal!’ That’s his mentality.

“So as a team we have to play with that advantage. Because if you see him in the box they’re always trying to find him or see where he is, so he gives space to other people to score goals.”