Portugal look to Ronaldo as last16 beckons
All eyes will be on the skipper of Euro champions when they square off against dangerous Iran
SARANSK: Cristiano Ronaldo will look to fire his country into the last 16 of the World Cup on Monday at the expense of former Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz and Iran.
Ronaldo and Queiroz are both appearing at their fourth World Cup, as player and coach respectively, and their relationship dates back to the Portugal captain’s arrival as a teenager at Manchester United in 2003.
The 65-year-old served as Alex Ferguson’s assistant over two spells either side of a brief stint in charge of Real Madrid, the club Ronaldo joined in 2009 in a deal Queiroz helped facilitate.
But their relationship soured following a second-round exit to Spain at the 2010 World Cup, after which Ronaldo suggested Queiroz was to blame for the defeat.
Portugal then crashed out in the group stage four years ago in Brazil, but Ronaldo is singlehandedly leading their quest in Russia with all four of his team’s goals so far.
“Our expectation is to continue our work and try to improve in the group phase,” Ronaldo said after his early strike over Morocco left Portugal level on four points with Spain at the top of Group B.
“We’re almost there (knockout stages) and then we’ll see.”
Ronaldo and Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku are just one goal behind England Harry Kane in the race for the Golden Boot, leaving eternal rival Lionel Messi in the dust as Argentina fight to stay in the competition.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos compared his talisman to a bottle of “Port wine”, marvelling at the 33-year-old’s ability to refine his game with age.
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone, the former Argentina midfielder, even indicated he would prefer to have Ronaldo rather than Messi in his team.
“Messi is very good, but it is clear that he is very good because he is surrounded by extraordinary players (at Barcelona),” Simeone said, in an audio recording published by Spanish media outlets. “The question I ask is if you have to choose between Messi and Ronaldo in a normal team, who would you choose?”
Portugal defender Pepe, a longtime teammate of Ronaldo at Real, said it was a “privilege” for the country to have a player such as the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. “He is getting better every year,” Manchester City winger Bernardo Silva said after Ronaldo’s hat-trick in the 3-3 draw with Spain. “People were waiting for him to get old and play worse, but he is only improving.”
Ronaldo scored a late penalty to seal a 2-0 win over Iran when the two sides last met, at the 2006 World Cup, and Portugal will hope for further inspiration from the second highest goal-scorer in international history.