‘It’s not right’ – Paul Scholes makes Cristiano Ronaldo claim after Portugal stumble at World Cup

Paul Scholes says Cristiano Ronaldo has become a ‘bit of a problem’ for Portugal and ‘it’s not right’ that the superstar forward is still leading the line at the grand old age of 41.

Ronaldo equaled Lionel Messi’s record of featuring at six separate World Cups as he captained Portugal in the side’s opening group-stage contest against DR Congo on Wednesday.

Roberto Martinez has a star-studded squad at his disposal this summer and the 2025 Nations League winners are viewed as one of the major contenders to lift the prestigious trophy, along with the likes of France, Spain, England and reigning champions Argentina.

But while Joao Neves broke the deadlock in only the sixth minute to get the Portuguese off to a dream start, Martinez’s men failed to capitalise on their dominance in Houston.

Newcastle attacker Yoane Wissa headed home an equaliser against the run of play to make it all square on the stroke of half-time and Portugal came up short in pursuit of a winner, instead having to settle for a point.

It proved a night to forget for Ronaldo, who failed to create any chances, take any shots, successfully take on an opponents or win a single duel in an especially disappointing first-half performance.

But Martinez decided to keep Ronaldo on the field until the final whistle, instead opting to bring off Pedro Neto, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva, Tomas Araujo and Nuno Mendes.

‘I think it’s difficult for the manager,’ former England and Manchester United midfielder Scholes said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

‘I did a Stick to Football with Roberto Martinez and I asked him off-camera, I said, “Is he a problem for you?”, because I feel he is a little bit of a problem.

‘At 41 years of age… I think there’s only one position on the pitch at 41 years of age where you should be starting a game and that’s goalkeeper, for me.

‘Now look, he is going to score goals and he’s in a team that have a lot of possession, but once there’s a game where it has to be transition… and there will be games like that. His movement at 41 years of age…’

Scholes, who shared a dressing room with Ronaldo for six years at Old Trafford, ‘feels sorry’ for Martinez and believes the five-time Ballon d’Or winner would be far more effective coming off the bench in the closing stages.

‘The trouble with Portugal is they haven’t really got an outstanding centre-forward anyway, have they? You’ve got to have somebody who runs,’ he added.

‘For me, he has to be a player for the last 15 minutes. For a 40 or 41-year-old to be playing centre-forward, I just don’t get it.

‘You might get away with it at centre-half, you might do in a team that keeps the ball and you probably get away with it as a goalkeeper, but as a centre-forward at 41… it’s not right.

‘We saw it with Croatia and Luka Modric last night at 40 years old. Central midfield at 40…

‘Cristiano will be so pissed off because Lionel Messi got a hat-trick, Kylian Mbappe got two… it will be killing him.

‘I feel sorry for Martinez because he’s trying to embrace it and he’s saying, “No, I’ve got the best goalscorer in the world”, but deep down he must know that’s hurting his team.’

Nicky Butt, another of Ronaldo’s former team-mates, agreed with Scholes that Martinez has a ‘massive problem’ on his hands.

‘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 chimed in.

‘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.’

With calls intensifying for Martinez to drop him from the starting XI, Ronaldo took to Instagram to address Portugal’s fans on Wednesday.

‘Not the start we wanted,’ the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus star, now with Al-Nassr, wrote.

‘But this is far from over. Head up and focus on the next game.’

Martinez, meanwhile, shied away from direct questioning over Ronaldo’s largely anonymous showing at his post-match press conference, instead pinning the blame on an apparent lack of support in attack.

‘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.’

When asked if he considered substituting Ronaldo, Martinez stressed that the veteran forward’s experience was key.

It makes no sense to get the best goalscorer in world football out in a game that you need goals,’ he said.

‘For us in moments like this, the experience of Cristiano in the box is important. The way that he attracts defenders is important, the way that we can use the space is important.

‘And every player has a responsibility or a piece of quality on the pitch. And clearly when you look for goals, you need to have Cristiano.’

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