His ego can’t take it but the inconvenient truth for Ronaldo is that Portugal are also better without him

EARLIER this month, I watched Bob Dylan in concert at the New Theatre in Oxford. Dylan is a hero of mine and it was still mesmerising to see him and listen to him but he is 81 now and it was obvious, whenever he stepped out from the shadows on the stage, that he was frail, unsteady on his feet and unable to move very far, very quickly. Which brings us to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Going to see Dylan now, for many of us, is as much a cultural event as anything. It may be the last time he will do a world tour. You see him for what he was and for what he represents rather than the performer he is today. You see him to see history and to be a part of history. You accept that he was in his heyday and at his most powerful and inspiring and relevant and vital decades ago. Which also brings us to Cristiano Ronaldo.

The artist also known as CR7 is running around Doha with a P45 from Manchester United in his back pocket for a reason — and it is not just that jaw-dropping interview with Piers Morgan. He is existing on what he was, not what he is. After his last dance at United, this is his last prance with Portugal and the early evidence suggests he is surplus to requirements here, too.

On Thursday night, he contrived a fall to win a dubious penalty against Ghana, which gave him the chance to convert the spot-kick that made him the first player in history to score in five World Cups. He deserves all the praise he is getting for that achievement but it should not obscure the fact Ronaldo is living off past glories as much as any active sportsman on the planet.

He has reached a stage in his magnificent career where he and his acolytes batter us over the head with those past glories. He weaponises them and uses them to try to sidestep his fading powers. He uses them to claim he deserves different, preferential, treatment to others and when anyone, such as United manager Erik ten Hag, has either the power or courage to stand up to him, he does not take it well at all.

And most of the time, he is indulged. He gets away with it because, more than ever, sport exists in an age of individualism where the star is valued more than the team performance. The value now is often in a moment or a trick or a celebration rather than in the result. That has never been more evident than it has been here in Doha during this World Cup where it feels as if star power is a blinding light dominating the tournament.

That is at its most obvious in the decisions about the man-of-thematch awards at the end of every game. I was at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Wednesday night to see Belgium versus Canada. Canada were superb and Belgium were awful, even though they scraped a 1-0 win. Kevin de Bruyne, one of the world’s best players, had one of the worst games I’ve seen him play. He was named man of the match.

I don’t know why. De Bruyne didn’t know why, either. And he had the honesty to say so. Maybe it is because the sponsors want the game’s most famous player to appear in front of a billboard with their name on it after the match?

It was the same on Thursday when Portugal played Ghana. Apart from winning that dodgy penalty, Ronaldo was poor. He was peripheral. He missed two good chances. But he was named man of the match, too.

Unlike De Bruyne, however, Ronaldo did not make it clear that the award felt like a bad joke. Modesty has never really been Cristiano’s thing.

And on the Doha Metro later, as fans made their way back to their homes and hotels after the Portugal-Ghana and Brazil-Serbia games, supporters riding the escalators could be heard mimicking Ronaldo’s ‘SIUU’ celebration. The message: performance is irrelevant. Image is everything.

A Bob Dylan concert is not measured in wins, draws and defeats but football is. And the inconvenient reality behind Portugal’s performance in their sketchy 3-2 win over Ghana was they would have a far better chance of winning the World Cup without Ronaldo in the starting XI. He isn’t worth his place in it any more just as he was not worth his place in the United starting XI. He tries. Of course he tries. But he does not have the mobility or the sharpness or the pace to contribute the way he once did.

He compromises the teams he plays in now. He is accommodated by them. He is a liability more than an asset. He missed one chance on Thursday when put through by a fantastic ball from Otavio. He missed another when he mistimed a free header after a lovely dinked cross from Raphael Guerreiro. Sure, he won the penalty and held his nerve to convert it but he contributed little else until he was substituted late on.

Many believe Rafael Leao, the young, highly-rated AC Milan forward, should be in the team ahead of him. Leao came on against Ghana and scored almost immediately with a clever, precise shot across the goalkeeper. Ronaldo, or, more accurately, Ronaldo’s reputation, is blocking his path and it is blocking the evolution of this Portugal team, which plays its next game, against Uruguay, tomorrow.

RONALDO is still the biggest name in the side but he stopped being its best player a long time ago. These days it is probably Bernardo Silva, Manchester City’s sublime midfielder. Joao Cancelo is not far behind Silva. Bruno Fernandes is not far behind him, either.

Portugal are a team packed with talent and Ronaldo, increasingly, looks like a man who is not earning his spot in it.

At United, Ten Hag picked his team on merit and began to leave Ronaldo on the bench. And Ronaldo, who seems to believe his past achievements should insulate him from being dropped or brought off the bench near the end of a match, spat out his dummy.

When he gave that remarkable interview to Morgan, in which he eviscerated every aspect of the club, including the manager and some of his team-mates, United breathed a sigh of relief and showed him the door.

It does not appear that option is open to Portugal coach Fernando Santos. Imagine the tantrum that would ensue if he left Ronaldo on the bench. Imagine the upheaval. Santos has seen the chaos that ensued at United when the manager stood up to Ronaldo and he knows he is stuck with him.

Portugal are good enough to have a shot at winning this World Cup. Their chances would be better if their star man possessed the humility to accept his limitations.