Portugal coach Roberto Martinez has defended his decision to play Cristiano Ronaldo in every minute of the FIFA World Cup group stage. He said it would be wrong to compare the veteran striker with Lionel Messi or Erling Haaland.
Ronaldo completed the full 90 minutes in Portugal’s 0-0 draw with Colombia on Sunday. The result saw Portugal finish second in Group K and set up a round of 32 meeting with Croatia.
While Argentina rested Messi and Norway left Haaland out of their final group matches, Martinez said every player has different needs.
“We don’t compare with other players of other teams,” Martinez said when asked about Ronaldo being rested like Haaland or Messi. “That would be childish.”
“Cristiano is used to being in the right place at the right time. It’s more a question of mentally being strong and always being disciplined in position and always opening space in our attacking patterns.”
“It’s not an issue for Cristiano to play 90 minutes, but maybe the next game we need to make a change, but that’s like any other player.”
“We have used 21 outfield players, so we do share the minutes.”
“We monitor all the information we get in games, what we do in training games and there is always an opportunity to make changes.”
“Today, we used João Neves and Rúben Neves for 45 minutes, we did the same with Diogo Dalot and João Cancelo because different positions have different needs.”
“There are some players who are not at full fitness, but all of the data we collect is very important in helping us make those decisions.”
Portugal could now face Spain in the round of 16 if both teams win their next matches. Martinez believes the group stage has helped his team prepare for the tougher tests ahead.
“Now it’s time to adjust, improve, and steer the matches where we want them, with more possession and better control,” he said. “This is part of the World Cup, part of the existing tactics, and as I said, we needed these three matches to reach our best level. It was a very valuable match.”
“We want to be here for eight matches and it is a different tournament now.”
