Cristiano Ronaldo will try to return to the national football team, in the Group A2 matches of the League of Nations with the Czech Republic and Spain, a start to the 2022/23 season that is truly “horribilis”.
After the first eight games of the 2022/23 season, most of them as a substitute for Manchester United, the 37-year-old Portuguese striker has only scored one goal and one penalty, a record that does not leave him out of the game. the chosen list due to an ‘immense’ status, to everything he did in a more or less recent past.
Ronaldo, 37, has long been the ‘captain’ of the ‘quinas’ team and also the player with the most ‘AA’ caps (189), on his way to the ‘unimaginable’ 200, and the one with the most goals (117) . ), being in this chapter the ‘king’ at the level of all the selections.
For all these reasons, the United player remains unquestionable, at least for the Portuguese coach, Fernando Santos, who was clear during the presentation of the squad for the clashes with the Czechs (Saturday) and the Spanish (Tuesday).
“I don’t think anyone here in this room doubts that Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be important for the national team,” Fernando Santos stressed.
The Portuguese coach left no room for doubt about what he thinks of the ‘captain’, in line, furthermore, with what he has always said, but his ‘nobody’ is questionable, given Ronaldo’s performance and the many alternatives that Portugal has.
How much he achieved, the ‘thousands’ of records he sealed, the ‘scary’ number of goals he scored, no one can take that away from him, but the present, his performance at the start of the 2022/23 season, is another ‘conversation”.
For something that has never been explained, Cristiano Ronaldo missed Manchester United’s pre-season, with speculation that he would want to leave the English club, play in the Europa League and join a ‘Champions’ team.
The news ‘flowed’ and the ‘denials’ followed the signing of the Portuguese, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan or Naples, clubs in which his coach, Jorge Mendes, will have tried to put him.
On the side of the Portuguese footballer, only silence, intermediated by some responses on social networks, one of which stated that he already had a “book of lies” and promised to give an interview in “a few weeks” to tell “the truth”. “.
A month passed, however, and no words came out of Cristiano Ronaldo’s mouth, with all the doubts in the air about what he really wanted, if he really wanted to leave and where, or to stay at United, and why he missed the preseason. .
His return to training only occurred on July 26, 22 days after the start, but speculation about his future lasted until September 1, when the market closed and his stay was finally defined.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo started to play, but, with his preparation delayed, he was not a starter, only being called up in the 53rd minute of United’s debut in the Premier League, which ended with an unexpected defeat at home (1-2) against Brighton. .
Six days later, the Portuguese, who would be ‘the remedy for all ills’, started the second round, playing the full 90 minutes, but things did not improve for the Manchester team, who ended up thrashed 4-0 in Brentford fortress .
Manager Erik ten Hag probably didn’t get what he expected from Ronaldo and relegated him to the bench, from where the Portuguese saw United reborn with a 2-1 win at home to Liverpool. The Portuguese international only entered in the 86th minute.
The Dutchman insisted that he had the Portuguese, but in the following three games, the Portuguese striker was again a substitute, in three more victories for the ‘red devils’, in the strongholds of Southampton (1-0) and Leicester ( 1-1). -0). ) and in the reception to Arsenal (3-1).
Cristiano Ronaldo played 22 minutes in each of the first two games and 32 in the last, but continued to score zero, increasing the ‘drought’ to six games.
The Europa League continued, with Ten Hag deciding to start the Portuguese on his debut, against Real Sociedad: Ronaldo returned to the ‘eleven’ and United returned to defeat, losing 1-0, due to a penalty from Brais Méndez .
A week later, and without a game in between due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Cristiano Ronaldo was once again a starter in the second UEFA competition and finally scored his first goal, in a penalty that he took in the 39th minute.
So, after all, Ronaldo has scored a goal, from a penalty, in eight games, and has lost in two of the three games he has started in 2022/23.
Fernando Santos, who did not tire of emphasizing the importance of the ‘captain’ in the Portuguese national team, naturally hopes that ‘ketchup’ will open again and Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals will return, his great specialty.
Source: TSF
