The Cristiano Ronaldo problem standing between Portugal and World Cup breakthrough | OneFootball

If 1966 represented a high point in England’s footballing history, it did for Portugal, too. Six decades on, their best performance in a World Cup remains the third place they secured at their first attempt. It might be unfair to frame everything that has followed as sixty years of hurt, however. In 2016, Portugal became champions of Europe. In the 21st century, as they excelled at exporting players and managers, arguably no footballing nation has had a bigger impact, relative to its size, than Portugal.

But perhaps that has not really been reflected in World Cups. Portugal reached a second semi-final in 2006, albeit in a tournament when they scored just two goals in four knockout games. They had a glorious chance to reach a third in 2022, but lost a quarter-final as Morocco instead became Africa’s first semi-finalists.

To varying degrees, their other four tournaments could be presented as underachievement: certainly the group-stage exits in 2002 and 2014, arguably the last-16 defeat in 2010 – even if it was to eventual winners Spain – and then 2018.

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Cristiano Ronaldo's 2022 World Cup ended in tears (Getty)

And so to 2026 when, of all the countries who have never won the World Cup, Portugal should be the side with the best chance. They are ranked fifth on the planet, have a manager who has taken a smaller nation to a World Cup semi-final, have a midfield that could rank as the most enviable in the tournament and possess one of the greatest footballers ever.

Although, admittedly, the player in question was already a toddler when Portugal beat England in the 1986 World Cup. When Cristiano Ronaldo was a substitute as Portugal lost to Morocco in Qatar and Argentina won the tournament, it seemed his chances of emulating Lionel Messi and lifting the World Cup were ending. Instead, here he is, back again, seemingly a protected species.

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Roberto Martinez must decide how best to use Ronaldo at the World Cup (Getty)

Ronaldo was arguably the worst player at Euro 2024 but he started games; and, in four of five, finished them, too. When he was sent off in November’s qualifier for elbowing Ireland’s Dara O’Shea, he was supposed to be banned for the start of the World Cup. But different laws apply to the rich and famous. Ronaldo went to dinner with Donald Trump at the White House. Fifa turned his punishment into a suspended suspension.

There was the thought that Portugal may have been best served if Ronaldo got an actual sanction. Without him, they walloped Armenia 9-1. They may have no other high-class centre-forward – Goncalo Ramos, who displaced him in 2022 and scored a hat-trick against Switzerland, has instead regressed – though there are other ways of assembling their many talents into more of a team.

But it seems that Roberto Martinez took on a job where picking Ronaldo was a prerequisite. It can test the Spaniard’s gift for implausible rhetoric – when Ronaldo saw red against Ireland, Martinez instead suggested he deserved credit for not being sent off in his previous 225 internationals – and his ability to forge a side that can beat the best, and with Ronaldo in it.

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Former Belgium boss Roberto Martinez has big calls to make with his Portugal selection (Reuters)

The veteran is entitled to argue that, of his 143 international goals, all but two of the last 15 came against opponents who either qualified for the World Cup, or plausibly could have done; indeed, Spain and Germany are among its possible winners. But it is safe to say Portugal will not play a pressing game with a statuesque presence in attack.

Ronaldo may have records on his mind. Group-stage clashes with DR Congo and Uzbekistan – the games for which he should have been banned – offer a chance to become the first player to score in six World Cups. Do so and he will equal Eusebio’s national record of nine World Cup goals; but the original Portuguese superstar got his nine in one tournament; he netted six goals in knockout games, Ronaldo none.

But in a way, that underlines the sense that Portugal’s footballing history is wrapped up with him, still more so than Brazil’s is with Pele or Argentina’s with Diego Maradona or Messi. Portugal had only played in three World Cups before Ronaldo. This will be their sixth with him.

It will be Martinez’s third, after two with Belgium. The Spaniard took one golden generation to a World Cup semi-final; this, arguably, isn’t a generation but two, with a remnant from a third. Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes are a decade older than Joao Neves; with Vitinha to fit into an astonishingly good midfield, one could be a nominal right winger. In turn, that leaves Rafael Leao and Joao Felix competing for one place; the latter is the Saudi Pro League’s player of the year, rather than Ronaldo. Fernandes won Footballer of the Year in England. Nuno Mendes and Vitinha were named in the Champions League’s team of the season.

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Portugal are blessed with midfield riches (Getty)

But, as ever, it feels all about Ronaldo. Portugal’s probable path takes them to Kansas City, to a quarter-final that could pit them against Argentina. It promises to be Messi against Ronaldo, seemingly for the last time. They have scored the best part of 2,000 goals between them but, in one respect, the scoreline is 1-0: in World Cups won.

This is Ronaldo’s last chance. It might be Portugal’s best one, but with the question if they can prevail because or in spite of Ronaldo.