🎥 Unai Simón on Cristiano: he's not the same as six or seven years ago | OneFootball

Spain and Portugal face off this Monday in the Round of 16, and two days before the clash in Dallas, goalkeeper Unai Simón analyzed the matchup and left a remark about Cristiano Ronaldo that will get people talking.

Simón comes into this World Cup unbeaten and with a streak of 519 minutes, a figure that surpassed the record Walter Zenga had held since 1990 (517). On how to stop Cristiano, he was blunt: "He’s not the same player he was six or seven years ago, at his peak, but we have to try to keep him as far away from the box as possible."

The Spanish goalkeeper also stressed the danger the Portuguese star still poses inside the box. "In the box, he can create chances for himself on his own. With the experience he has, he understands perfectly what he needs to do," he explained, adding that Ronaldo likes to "stay around the penalty spot" and reads "those situations very well."

Simón also looked back at what happened in the Nations League final, against an opponent that has kept the same coach and a similar squad. "We didn’t play very fluidly, their pressing was intense," he admitted, pointing to correcting those aspects as key for Monday.

Looking ahead to the clash, the goalkeeper called for focus on his own team beyond the recent precedent. "If we go out, let it be because they are better than us and not because we didn’t perform to our level," he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

📸 COLE BURSTON - AFP or licensors