Former Portugal forward Hugo Almeida believes the national team will miss the services of Cristiano Ronaldo when he is not going to be there. Ronaldo is 37-years-old and he is in the twilight of his glorious career. The talisman was rested against Switzerland and Os Navegaderos went on to lose by 1-0.
Portugal conceded the goal within the first minute of play and then could not find the equalizer. In fact, Ronaldo had scored a brace against Switzerland in the team’s 4-0 win last week in the reverse clash.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo has been a consistent performer for his national team as he has scored a total of 117 goals (188 matches), which is the highest for any International player. The FIFA World Cup 2022 is also expected to be Ronaldo’s last major event for Portugal and he will look to take his team all the way for the first time.
Almeida told Bola Branca (via United In Focus:) “Ronaldo is a goalscoring machine, he’s the best player in the world. It’s not just words, he shows it on the pitch. The national team has players with a lot of quality who can score goals, but yesterday the ball didn’t want to go in. Unfortunately for football fans, Ronaldo won’t last forever and is (will be) missed when he’s not there.”
On the other hand, Ronaldo scored 24 goals across all competitions for his club Manchester United in the last season. Ronaldo went on to score 18 goals in the Premier League and he was also named in the Premier League team of the season.
Ronaldo, along with goalkeeper David de Gea were the only positives for the Red Devils in otherwise what was a ho-hum season for the club.
Portugal will next take on the Czech Republic on 25th September.