Jesus was right. Ronaldo's shocking Portugal statistic is hard to believe
Cristiano Ronaldo's recent numbers for Portugal look almost impossible to believe.
Details: According to Opta Analyst, across his last 13 appearances for Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored from only four of his 52 non-penalty shots — a conversion rate of just 7.7%. Even more strikingly, all four goals came in only two matches: Ronaldo scored twice against Uzbekistan on June 23, 2026, and twice against Hungary on October 14, 2025.
The underlying numbers make the run look even more remarkable. During those 13 international appearances, Ronaldo played 934 minutes and accumulated 7.7 non-penalty expected goals from his 52 attempts. His average chance was worth 0.15 xG, yet he finished the sequence with only four non-penalty goals.
The statistics arrive amid the huge debate surrounding Jorge Jesus' decision to leave Ronaldo on the bench for the entire 2-1 UEFA Nations League victory over Norway on September 27. Jesus later explained that the forward was physically available and that he had initially considered giving him around 30 minutes, but the course of the match led the coach to use different substitutions.
That Norway game was the first official Portugal match since Euro 2008 in which Ronaldo was in the squad but remained an unused substitute. The situation later escalated, with Ronaldo leaving the national-team camp after Jesus' press conference and a conversation with Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença. It is worth noting that UEFA currently credits Ronaldo with 146 goals in 234 Portugal appearances, both records in men's international football.
Reminder: Portugal issues official statement over Ronaldo walkout
Steven Perez
Dailysports's expert
