Portugal drew 1-1 away with Spain in the UEFA Nations League. In this campaign, Ronaldo came off the bench and played for 28 minutes without a shot, no goal or assist.
This is also the second time that Ronaldo has been a substitute in the national team in 14 years, and the first time in the past five years.
“Goal Net” analyzed why Ronaldo was on the bench. The media pointed out that this was a technical decision by head coach Santos for two reasons.
First of all, Cristiano Ronaldo has not played for almost a month. He did not play after Manchester United’s game against Brighton on May 7. He also missed the game against Crystal Palace in the final round of the Premier League.
Second, Portugal’s offensive line is now full of talents, and the head coach can arrange a variety of combinations without Ronaldo. Against Spain, Santos had a trident combination of B seats, A seats and Leo.
Santos previously said that the 37-year-old Ronaldo needs to arrange his physical strength reasonably. “Obviously, Cristiano is not the one he played at Real Madrid and he is no longer at Sporting, when he was 18.”
“At Sporting, he’s a machine. He does 20 50-meter sprints a game. He runs up and down, down and up, and today, he doesn’t do 20 50-meter sprints, 10 I can’t do it even five times.”
“But he still has his main strengths: strong will, seriousness, hard work and goals. It’s intact. That’s why I want him to stay close to the box. If he plays wide, To get to the goal, he has to cut inside, get past three or four opponents, and he has to defend a lot.”
In the Portuguese national team, Cristiano Ronaldo has only substituted 13 times, and only 4 times in official matches.
B seat said after the game: “We are used to playing without Ronaldo, we are used to sometimes he is not there. After he came off the bench, we scored a very important point for us.”
