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How do you prepare to face Cristiano Ronaldo? It's a question that has tormented opponents of soccer's greatest ever goal-scorer for most of the 21st century. But maybe the task is not as taxing as it used to be.
Pep Guardiola grappled with the Ronaldo conundrum for the last time in March 2022, as Manchester City pursued the Premier League title. To hold off Jurgen Klopp's relentless Liverpool, a derby victory over Manchester United was a must.
Ronaldo had returned to Old Trafford in a blaze of glory the previous August. He scored goals; he always does. But United's collective form nose-dived, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked. Interim boss Ralf Rangnick, a pioneer of the high-pressing gegenpressing style, picked up the pieces.
To prepare for United, Guardiola set up an 11 vs. 11 practice match, with City's youth teamers tasked with mimicking the United players' expected movements. According to a report by The Athletic, Oscar Bobb was given the Ronaldo role and had to go against his instincts. He was told to close down the City centre-backs initially, but then to stop and not press fully.
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Ronaldo ended up sitting out City's 4-1 victory with a hip problem, but it feels telling that the method of preparing how to face the veteran superstar forward was to instruct someone basically to stand around and not do much.
That was almost four and a half years ago, which begs another question: what exactly are we expecting from a 41-year-old Ronaldo at his sixth World Cup?
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Do Cristiano Ronaldo and Roberto Martinez get along?
Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez is unequivocal over Ronaldo's place in the Portugal team.
"He's scored 25 goals in 30 matches under my management. The numbers make the argument for him," Martinez told Four Four Two this month. "Our standard for selection is identical for every single player, and it's very high. Cristiano meets it. He's not in the squad because of what he was, but because his present form earns it every time."
Five of those goals came in five World Cup qualifying games. Ronaldo also answered accusations that he can't do it against the major nations anymore by netting against Germany in the semifinal and Spain in the final of Portugal's 2024/25 UEFA Nations League triumph.
The numbers almost always tell a very good story and he has plenty to call upon. He was and remains a phenomenon, relentless and insatiable in his pursuit of goals. But they don't tell the whole picture.
🚨🇵🇹 Cristiano Ronaldo is ready for the FIFA World Cup. 🐐🏆 pic.twitter.com/fTBYqGf8Fg
— World Cup 2026 (@WorldCupMedia_) June 14, 2026By the end of the year that Manchester City prepared to face Ronaldo by telling an energetic youngster not to do anything, his second spell at United ended abruptly amid a rapidly deteriorating relationship with manager Erik ten Hag.
After the Qatar World Cup — where Ronaldo failed to score from open play, was dropped from the starting lineup and saw his replacement Goncalo Ramos score a hat-trick in the 6-1 last-16 win over Switzerland — he joined Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. Finally, at the fourth time of asking, Ronaldo's club won the Pro League title in 2026. In the meantime, he played at Euro 2024 and did not score at all as Portugal beat Slovenia in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw in the first knockout round and lost to France on spot-kicks after another goalless stalemate.
Ronaldo then returned to the loving bosom of a UEFA qualifying campaign, where he has plundered so many goals. He did so again on the road to the 2026 World Cup, although it's maybe worth noting that Portugal hammered minnows Armenia 9-1 when he was suspended for their last Group F match.
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Should Portugal drop Cristiano Ronaldo to win the World Cup?
Ronaldo should not have had a scoreless Euro 2024. During the second half of extra time against Slovenia, he had a penalty saved by Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak. At fulltime, Ronaldo was in floods of retching tears. He recovered to dispatch the first kick in the shootout as the Selecao won 3-0, but the whole emotional outpouring felt unhelpful: not the sort of thing you expect from an experienced elder statesman; precisely what you anticipate from a preening egoist.
It's no secret that Ronaldo likes to be the centre of attention. He always has and, over the course of one of the greatest individual careers in soccer history, it's not done him a lot of harm. Everyone outside of his most ardent fans will have eye-rolling examples of when he's done something in a ridiculously self-serving manner.
It's certainly not a new development. A decade ago at Euro 2016, when Ronaldo dragged a limited Portugal to the final and had to watch on anxiously from the sidelines after he suffered an injury in the final, Eder, the unheralded replacement at centre-forward, scored the winner to stun hosts France in extra time. Ronaldo had the major international honour he craved (before Lionel Messi had one, something of obvious importance that he would never publicly acknowledge), and he was celebrated as the talismanic leader who made it all possible.
In 2016, Cristiano Ronaldo won more trophies (4) than he lost games (3) 😮💨✅🏆 pic.twitter.com/r0lqodQmNQ
— OneFootball (@OneFootball) October 7, 2025That was true, but a recurring feature of an often arduous Portuguese tournament was Ronaldo loudly and visibly lambasting those around him. Right-back Cedric Soares took several ear-bashings. A 0-0 draw against Austria in Paris, where Ronaldo failed from the penalty spot and the crowd chanted Messi's name, became a needlessly angst-ridden occasion, simply because of his presence.
In 2016, Ronaldo had just won his third career Champions League, the first of a historic three in a row with Real Madrid. He won his fourth Ballon d'Or and a fifth followed in 2017. At this stage, he was absolutely and unquestionably worth the hassle.
But, from a dizzyingly high peak, it has been a story of gradual decline. There's no shame in that; Ronaldo was reaching and has long since passed the age when most elite soccer players retire. It has been a long time since he indisputably improved a team. Yes, he scored goals aplenty at Juventus and United, but both of those teams functioned less effectively as a collective with Ronaldo bolted on and have toiled since.
Portugal has improved, on account of an incredible production line of talent that has produced diamonds since Euro 2016. There's no more cajoling the likes of Soares and Eder. Martinez can call upon Bruno Fernandes after the season of his life at Manchester United. Bernardo Silva captained Manchester City to two trophies; if he hadn't, Ruben Dias could very well have been the man with the armband. Vitinha, Joao Neves and Nuno Mendes have all excelled in back-to-back Champions League triumphs with Paris Saint-Germain. This collective does not need a 41-year-old with negligible use outside of the 18-yard box to be more potent.
A couple of things play in Ronaldo's favour. Firstly, he is immensely popular with sections of the United States sporting public. If you're a "grindset" guy, you're probably a Ronaldo guy. Dropping him at any stage would cause a preposterous amount of turbulence around Portugal games. Given Martinez clearly still sees value in playing the veteran, it's probably worth avoiding the noise. Then there's the simple fact that Ramos has not kicked on since his World Cup hat-trick and is a bit-part player at PSG, unable to make an iron-clad case that he should be his country's starting No. 9.
That's because PSG play without a fixed centre-forward and an array of rotating, gifted attackers. Portugal could do that at this World Cup — Pedro Neto, Rafael Leao and rising star Francisco Conceicao bombing around all over the place as Fernandes racks up assists and Silva, Neves and Vitinha take a grip of games, refusing to let go.
They won't, but they should. Starting against DR Congo and Uzbekistan could ease Ronaldo into the tournament. There might even be a few goals. But the risk is that what at first looks like moving forward will become a team standing still and passed. A bit like that Guardiola training drill from four years ago, preparing for a man over the hill.
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