Sir Alex Ferguson’s former right-hand man, Rene Meulensteen, has given his stark opinion on Cristiano Ronaldo’s Euro 2024 performances for Portugal.
Manchester United first-team coach. Meulensteen has claimed that Portugal manager Roberto Martinez has got to address Ronaldo’s lack of free-kick goals for his country at Euro 2024 as he noted that the game is beginning to “run away” from the elite athlete.
Alex Crooks asked Meulensteen: “Are they a better team without him in it, Portugal? He takes every free kick, blazes every free kick into the stands.” And the former assistant to Sir Alex said: “Yeah well, that to me is something I think that needs to be addressed because the stats don’t help.”
Meulensteen also discussed the Portugal frontman’s emotional state during and after the round of 16 game against Slovenia – where he burst into tears after seeing his penalty saved by Jan Oblak, but then went on to score one in the shoot-out after extra time.
The former United coach said: “Well, it’s all about perception isn’t it? First of all, I thought when that penalty shoot-out came about, I thought this is going to be interesting because he’s only going to take one or another penalty – he’s either the first one or number five, the last one.
“And I was pleasantly surprised for him to step up and take the first one because he knew, ‘I need to take the responsibility, I need to put this right to get us off of the wrong foot’. So that to me was a good sign of character.”
Meulensteen added: “What happened after the game showed his determination and his desire to win things and to do well that is so strong. He’s got the highest expectations of himself and everybody around him. He expects the highest standards of himself and everybody else, and if he doesn’t meet those standards – which he didn’t – then obviously you get that reaction from him.”
Meulensteen also noted that Ronaldo needs to justify his claim of taking free-kicks for Portugal by boosting his conversion rate. He explained: “The only way to justify it [taking free kicks] is to put one in the top corner and that is obviously what he’s got in his mind but the stats don’t back that up and the thing is, you know with every team normally, you’ve got a clear plan with everything in terms of the corners, who takes them and the free kicks and this and that and the other.
“He sees them [free kicks] as an opportunity but it’s not working and I think it’s the manager’s job to address that.”
Jim White, the former Sky Sports Transfer Deadline Day presenter, asked Meulensteen if he would put Ronaldo in the starting XI for Portugal’s game against France on Friday night. White posed the question: “If you were Martinez, I’m going to do it, I’m going to put you in that spot, would you play him in this game against the French on Friday, would you start him?”
