It was a statement of fact from one of the young Congolese midfielders and while not intended to insult, still a brutal assessment.
Asked after securing a draw against Portugal, a nation sitting 40 ranking spots above his own, whether there had been a plan to deal with Cristiano Ronaldo, 21-year-old Ngal’ayel Mukau declared not.
‘We know that he isn’t the same as before. He is a bit older now,’ he replied. ‘He’s still one of the greatest to ever play the game – so yeah, much respect to him. For sure, when you get a bit old like that, it’s not the same effort you make.’
There were more caveats from the Lille player about personal respect for the 41-year-old – evidently sincere – but he spoke the truth that Ronaldo’s manager was unable to act on, let alone admit to, on Wednesday.
Never was the warped balance of power in Ronaldo’s relationship with Roberto Martinez more evident than when another Portugal striker was added into the blunted attack which had a failing Ronaldo at its apex, in the second half against DR Congo.
The moment was screaming out for him to make way for the PSG forward Gonçalo Ramos. Instead, Vitinha was hooked from midfield to make way. The midfield was depopulated without any improvement up front.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the problem rather than solution for Portugal
There was a lot of tiptoeing around this elephant in the room, when Martinez later sat down to discuss the 1-1 draw.
The Ronaldo difficulty barely surfaced during the Portuguese media’s section of his press conference and when it did, Martinez circled the topic in a verbose and evasive way.
When Daily Mail Sport asked him if he had considered substituting Ronaldo, his reply – that if you need goals against a deep-lying team, Ronaldo’s presence is imperative – flatly contradicted the afternoon’s evidence.
Ronaldo has not scored in a major international competition for ten games now. His last such goal came on November 24, 2022, during the Selecao’s first game of the Qatar World Cup, against Ghana. And that was a penalty. No surprise, perhaps, that he looked desperate to take the few scraps which came his way on Wednesday.
He threw a right foot at Francisco Conceicao’s 68th minute layoff without controlling the ball, when Bruno Fernandes was waiting behind him in a better position.
In many corners of Portugal, patience is wearing thin for a player given a four out of ten rating in L’Equipe’s legendary player ratings.
It’s not all about him. The team’s soporific football – all possession, no penetration – had some Portuguese fans jeering in the stadium. But Martinez’s insistence on giving Ronaldo control over his own destiny is the greatest impediment to the team’s success from here.
It seems likely that the Spaniard will be leaving after this tournament. There is nothing to lose by grasping this nettle?
The last few days of the World Cup have revealed the levels of individual brilliance that the aspiring nations have come equipped with.
Ronaldo is simply not in the same sphere as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland. The equation is simple. Consign him to a more marginal role, or don’t come close to lifting the trophy.
You would hope that Ronaldo himself might intuit this, though the evidence of Wednesday is that he sees himself as a necessary on-field instructor. When Portugal conceded, he exchanged words with defender Renato Veiga and goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who had not come off his line.
When Martinez had concluded his press conference and we ventured back up from the subterranean place towards the outdoors, where Houston’s sun had broken through, two women in Portugal tops approached me. ‘Can you take us to see Cristiano Ronaldo’? one asked.
The level of adoration is boundless, yet if Portugal are to flourish, Ronaldo needs to be told that he will be a substitute, arriving from the bench to deliver for 20 minutes of ultra intensity in which he can employ his wonderful football instinct. Don’t hold your breath.
