Former Manchester United player Nicky Butt has said that Portugal manager Roberto Martinez has a “massive problem” with 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.
This comes after Martinez defended his choice not to substitute the Al Nassr striker during Portugal’s poor 1-1 draw with DR Congo on Wednesday.
The Spanish coach did not directly criticise Ronaldo’s quiet performance in his post-match talk. Instead, he said Portugal did not give enough help in attack.
Butt said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, “I think he’s got that much of an ego, Cristiano. He’s a great lad but he’s got such an ego and he’ll be a massive problem for that squad.
“He was when he came back to Manchester United for a second time, it was a problem.
“If you look at the fans [for Portugal’s draw with DR Congo] last night, they had around 20,000 Portuguese fans and I reckon 18,000 had ‘Ronaldo 7’ on their back so you’ve also got that to deal with as a manager as well.”
After the match, Martinez said, “We have to utilise all the players on the pitch. The lead attacker [Ronaldo] needs to be close to the six-yard box and we need to get the ball to him.” Continue to More Sports.
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