Cristiano Ronaldo benched again ahead of the important match in the World Cup quarter-finals
In recent days, Cristiano Ronaldo has found himself in hot waters after he gave an interview to the British news channel and piers morgan about the team he was playing for. He had said some hard things about Manchester United after which decided to leave the team.
However, he is facing a similar situation in his home team Portugal. The manager has decided to bench Cristiano Ronaldo for the upcoming game against Switzerland. Portugal needs to win the game at any cost and reach the semi-finals or they won’t have any chance to win the world cup. In such an important match coming up, it’s a very bold step by the manager to take out such an extraordinary player.
However, in the last match, Portugal dominated Japan by winning with a 4-1 lead knocking japan out of the world cup. In that match, Cristiano Ronaldo was benched too. However, the team management and the captain of the team were criticized for taking out Renaldo and replacing him with Goncalo Ramos.
However, Ramos proved to be his jackpot as the young player scored a hat trick against the opponent team and lead his team to win the game. Ronaldo did look hurt by the decision but decided to cope with it after his controversial statements against Manchester united.
It is believed he was furious and upset with the team management but stayed quiet as he did not want to cause any controversy. Such a decision was taken in the past too in the 2008 world cup when Ronaldo was made to sit on the bench rather than play for the team.
Santos, a great team manager has a few wins under his sleeve. He had won the Euro 2016 cup, and it was feared that if Ronaldo was not allowed to play and Portugal lost, it would become a perception that the team is unable to score or play without Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, it was different this time. The team was much younger and energetic this time with the addition of younger players who could play top-class football. In the initial stages of the game, Portugal dominated the game against Japan and the situation was the same in the second half too.
It was a smooth play on the field, and the replacement striker did have some sort of pressure on his shoulders since he replaced Ronaldo in the match. However, he not only managed to handle the pressure very well but also managed to score a hat trick against the Japanese football team.
Moreover, a comparison was made between Cristiano Ronaldo and the youngster Ramos. In the last 514 minutes of the world cup, Ronaldo did not score a single goal, however, on the other hand, Ramos scored three goals in just 67 minutes.
The cameras focusing on the Portuguese star gave clear facial expressions as he thought about his career with the national team after sabotaging a career with Manchester United.
Almost all of the cameramen followed him after he left for the benches after the national anthem. It did feel somewhat testimonial as the Portuguese team proved that they could win matches in his absence, thus reducing his dominance over the team. However, on the other hand, it also left the fans disappointed to pay for the tickets to come and watch Ronaldo play.
Even after not performing in the last matches, the crowd still felt anticipated as soon as he would receive the ball. Conclusively, Ronaldo seems to be getting old with the younger players given a chance, they might have a higher chance of winning the WorldCup.
