Paul Scholes Critiques Cristiano Ronaldo's Role in Portugal
Paul Scholes believes Cristiano Ronaldo has turned into a problem Portugal can no longer ignore, insisting it “is not right” that a 41-year-old is still leading the line at a World Cup.
Ronaldo, captaining his country in their opening group game against DR Congo in Houston, drew level with Lionel Messi’s record of appearing at six World Cups. The landmark, though, arrived on a flat night. For him and for Portugal.
Roberto Martinez’s side, reigning Nations League champions and widely tipped among the favourites alongside France, Spain, England and Argentina, started as if they meant to underline that status. Joao Neves struck in the sixth minute, an early goal that should have set the tone for a routine win.
It never did.
Portugal dominated the ball, pinned DR Congo back, and still let the game drift. Just before half-time, Newcastle forward Yoane Wissa punished them, scoring against the run of play to level the match. From there, Portugal huffed, probed, recycled possession. They never found a winner. The game finished in a draw that felt like a missed opportunity and, for some, a warning.
At the heart of the debate: Ronaldo.
This was not the Ronaldo of old. It was not even the ruthless penalty-box version that has extended his career. Across a particularly bleak first half, he did not fashion a single chance, did not take a shot, did not complete a dribble, did not win a duel. For long spells, he simply stood in the middle of Portugal’s attacks rather than driving them.
Martinez still left him on for the full 90 minutes, choosing instead to withdraw Pedro Neto, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva, Tomas Araujo and Nuno Mendes. The decision did not surprise Scholes. It worried him.
“I believe it’s challenging for the manager,” the former Manchester United and England midfielder said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, revealing he had already confronted Martinez about the issue.
“I once had a conversation with Roberto Martinez off-camera during a Stick to Football session, where I inquired, ‘Is he a problem for you?’, as I feel he is somewhat of a concern.”
Scholes did not dance around the central point. Age.
“At 41 years of age… I believe there is only one position on the field where a player of that age should be starting, and that is as a goalkeeper, in my opinion.”
Ronaldo’s numbers, his aura, the way he still attacks space in the box, all keep dragging managers back to the same conclusion: he will score. And in a Portugal team that monopolises the ball, it is easy to be seduced by the idea that he needs only one chance.
Scholes accepts that. He also sees the flip side.
“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…”
The sentence trailed off, but the message was clear. When matches become open, when legs are tested and the press has to bite, Ronaldo cannot give Martinez what modern tournament football demands from a centre-forward.
Scholes, who shared a dressing room with Ronaldo for six years at Old Trafford, insists he takes no pleasure in saying it. He says he “feels sorry” for Martinez, trapped between the legend and the logic.
“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 said.
For Scholes, the solution is brutal in its simplicity.
“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.”
He pointed to another icon to underline the point. Croatia’s Luka Modric, still gliding across midfield at 40, also looked stretched under the intensity of tournament football.
“We saw it with Croatia and Luka Modric last night at 40 years old. Central midfield at 40…”
The issue for Ronaldo is not just physical. Pride lives in the numbers. Scholes suggested the forward will have been stung watching others steal the headlines.
“Cristiano will be so pissed off because Lionel Messi got a hat-trick, Kylian Mbappe got two… it will be killing him.”
That ego, that obsession with goals, is what drove Ronaldo to six World Cups and five Ballons d’Or. It is also what makes this moment so delicate. Martinez knows he has one of the greatest finishers in history. He also knows the game has changed around 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.”
Portugal will not win this tournament on sentiment. They will not be judged on Ronaldo’s records, but on whether Martinez has the courage to turn a living monument into a 15-minute weapon rather than a 90-minute obligation.
