For nearly twenty years, Cristiano Ronaldo he has carried a burden that very few athletes in any sport have.He has spent much of his career being tested not against his contemporaries, but against his past. Fight against the winner who went through Manchester United. Against a runner who outjumps defenders and runs into the backfield. Fighting against a machine that scored 50 goals every season is almost like a matter of routine. That standard has not changed. He is only a football player.Perhaps that is why Portugal’s 1-1 1-1 draw against DR Congo in Houston soon became less about the results and more about Ronaldo. The opposition came from everywhere. Thierry Henry accused him of thinking about his goal when Bruno Fernandes was better. Paul Scholes described him as ‘a problem’. Chris Sutton said that Roberto Martinez is too scared to replace him.The contrast with Lionel Messi only increases the noise.The day before, Messi scored three goals against Algeria. Kylian Mbappe announced himself with a brace. Harry Kane scored twice for England. Erling Haaland also found the net. And there was Ronaldo. Three attempts. No shots on target. There are no goals.Ronaldo’s performance has sparked controversy that the 41-year-old has been wrong compared to the young players who are lighting up the FIFA World Cup.The numbers, however, paint a more complicated picture. Of course, no one needs numbers to tell them that Ronaldo had a difficult night in front of goal, but ball There has never been a game where the batsmen played by themselves.What happens around them depends on what they do themselves. Most of the evidence suggests that Portugal’s biggest problem may not have been Ronaldo.According to FIFA’s pre-match reports, Ronaldo has scored 47 goals per game – second only to Mbappe’s 50 and more than Harry Kane and Haaland combined. However, Portugal only found him with 10 passes, meaning that only 21.3 percent of their runs were rewarded.
In comparison, Messi ran 32 times and received the ball 16 times, a success rate of 50 percent. Kane received four passes from 15 runs while Haaland was found twice in eight runs.These numbers raise an uncomfortable question in Portugal: hasn’t Ronaldo been overlooked too often?The passing numbers tell their own story, and may explain why comparing Ronaldo directly to Messi is misleading. Messi attempted 40 passes in Argentina’s opening game, twice as many as Ronaldo, and completed 30 of them.But the difference says more about status than influence. Messi worked deep, often dropping into the middle of the game and acting as Argentina’s main creator. Ronaldo, meanwhile, only passed 20 times, the same as Harry Kane and more than eight of Erling Haaland.Most impressively, he completed 19 of them, giving him 95 percent – the highest of the five.
At 41 years old, Ronaldo is more like a striker in the box whose value lies in movement rather than singing.Haaland’s stats are probably the most similar. The Norwegian tried only eight times because Manchester City’s strategy with him has been built around work rather than participation.Ronaldo’s pass points in one direction. He is no longer trying to be the guy who touches the ball 50 times and runs the game.The problem for Portugal is that even though their captain has turned into the ultimate expert, the team around him still seems to be caught between using him as an important center and asking him to do things he no longer needs to do.Where the opposition is heavy, however, is before the goal.Ronaldo’s three attempts failed to disrupt the goalkeeper. Messi had 6 shots and 4 shots on target en route to his hat-trick. Mbappe hit the target with all four of his attempts and scored twice, while Kane and Haaland also made their chances count.Physical information provides another interesting insight.Ronaldo has managed 8,389 meters per game – more than Messi’s 6,808m – belying claims that he is no longer putting it on the pitch. However, these numbers also reveal where the years have come.
He registered only 73 meters of speed at 25 km/h or more. Haaland managed 438 meters, Mbappe 225 and Kane 117. Ronaldo still has a touch speed of 30.7 km / h, but the repeated explosion that means his game is increasing.What has changed is not his will to run. It’s the frequency with which they can release the statues that initially caused the defenders to panic. Haaland covered more than five times the distance with top speed. Mbappe remains in another category.
Portugal also produced very little throughout the night. Their expected goals stood at just 0.57, the lowest among the world’s top five teams in this comparison. Argentina scored three goals. France has scored three. England have scored four. Norway scored four.Portugal scored once within the opening minutes and spent much of the night struggling to get back on track. Roberto Martinez himself admitted as much later.“We didn’t get to the final third at the level we needed to support the player and use his movement,” he said.
Ronaldo’s finish should be investigated, but the idea that he didn’t want to work doesn’t fit the record.He continued to run. Portugal just looked away.And as the World Cup has already shown, one quiet opening game doesn’t tell the whole story. Lionel Messi failed to score in Argentina’s first game in Qatar four years ago before lifting the trophy a few weeks later.
