Could Cristiano Ronaldo harm Portugal’s chances at the World Cup? | OneFootball

It’s the one big prize missing from his medal collection. The one that Lionel Messi has and he doesn’t. And this will (probably) be the last chance Cristiano Ronaldo has of becoming a World Cup winner.

But after a disappointing penultimate warm up for the tournament, the question has to be asked: what if Ronaldo is less of a help and more of a hindrance for Portugal by now?

It’s fair to say most teams wouldn’t build around a 41-year-old, who hasn’t played in Europe since before the last World Cup.

Things are different when it comes to Ronaldo, though, and the Al-Nassr captain will be expecting to play a big part in his country’s push for a first world title.

He was far from at his best in their 2-1 friendly win over Chile on Saturday, though. Chosen as a starter up front, Ronaldo was taken off at half time in one of six Portuguese changes.

During his first-half cameo, Ronaldo had a goal disallowed for being offside. Other than that, he only had one shot on target – a left-footed effort that was straight at the keeper – while failing to attempt any dribbles, win any duels or create any big chances.

To make matters worse for Ronaldo, Portugal’s opening goal was scored by the player who came on for him: Goncalo Guedes.

As Portugal prepare for their World Cup opener against DR Congo on June 17, there will have to be reasonable debates over what their best XI looks like and whether Ronaldo fits into it.

Of course he’ll get gametime in North America. It’s Ronaldo. But does he deserve to be as much of a key player as he probably thinks – or will it be like Euro 2016 all over again, when his influence in the final was more from his bellowing of instructions from the bench after going off injured?

To be fair to him, it wasn’t all bad against Chile; there was a clever backheel pass to Rafael Leao (another high-profile player who should have question marks over his status going into the tournament) that created a chance.

But Ronaldo will need to do more to live up to the hype if he is to have any chance of helping Portugal to the one honour many have reasoned over the past few years that separates Messi from him.

Portugal’s pool of attackers going to the World Cup also includes Guedes, Leao, Goncalo Ramos, Joao Felix, Francisco Trincao, Pedro Neto and Francisco Conceicao.

Ronaldo has fair reason to believe he’s better than many of them still. But reputation only counts for so much, especially in the heat of a moment like a World Cup.

Can he come up clutch on the international stage one last time? Or might Portugal be better off without relying on him?