Loud accusation! In England, it was claimed that Ronaldo harmed the Portugal national team
Raphael Durand
Dailysports's expert
Former England striker Chris Sutton delivered a scathing assessment of Cristiano Ronaldo's impact following Portugal's elimination from the 2026 World Cup.
Details: Portugal suffered a 1-0 defeat to Spain in the Round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup, bringing their tournament run to an abrupt end.
Sutton believes that Portugal could have achieved more if Ronaldo had not remained a fixture in the starting eleven. In his view, the team underperformed precisely because of their reliance on the 41-year-old forward.
He cited the 2022 World Cup as an example, recalling when Gonçalo Ramos started in the Round of 16 and netted a hat-trick after the coach decided to leave Cristiano on the bench.
"Four years have passed, Ronaldo is four years older, and just look at what happened. Because of him, they performed worse than they could have," Sutton stated.
Reminder: Portugal crashed out of the 2026 World Cup after their loss to Spain, while Ronaldo ended his sixth World Cup campaign without ever lifting the trophy.
