Cristiano Ronaldo replaced a special edition pair of Nike boots at half-time of Portugal’s World Cup group stage clash with Colombia as the forward looked to break the deadlock in the match.
Nike had gifted Ronaldo a limited edition pair of boots, the ‘Nike Mercurial Superfly 11 Gold Scorpion’, prior to Portugal’s final group match.
The boots, which feature Ronaldo’s ‘CR7’ logo, were given to the Portuguese legend to mark his achievement of being the first player to score in six World Cup matches.
Ronaldo had achieved the landmark by scoring twice in Portugal’s 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan last week.
Nike will create 2,026 pairs of the £242 boots, referencing the year of this summer’s World Cup.
Ronaldo, who had trained with the new boots in the build-up to the match with Colombia, was seen sporting the footwear during the first half against the South Americans on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo wore special edition gold boots in the first half against Colombia on Saturday
The Nike boots were gifted to Ronaldo to mark his achievement of becoming the first player to score in six different World Cups
Ronaldo, however, ditched the boots at half-time and returned to wearing a pink pair
The Portugal captain attempted three shots in the first half, with Ronaldo seeing a free-kick saved, an overhead kick and another effort blocked as the two teams went into the break goalless.
Ronaldo returned for the second half without the gold boots, with the forward instead opting to switch back to the pink boots that he and a large number of players have worn throughout the World Cup to date.
The switch did not lead to an upturn in fortunes with the 41-year-old failing to have another shot on goal in the second half.
Portugal were ultimately held to a goalless draw by Colombia, which proved only enough to advance to the last-32 as group runners-up.
It remains to be seen whether Ronaldo will wear the special edition boots again in the knock-out stages of the competition, where Portugal now face a more daunting path.
Roberto Martinez’s side will face Croatia in the last-32 of the competition, with the potential for a last-16 meeting against their Iberian neighbours Spain.
Martinez claimed post-match that his team ‘needed’ the high intensity match against Colombia, which he believes will help them in the knock-out stages.
‘Winning or losing or having a draw today did not make a difference,’ Martinez said.
Ronaldo was left frustrated as Portugal were held to a goalless draw to finish second in their group
Roberto Martinez’s side now face a potentially daunting route through the knock-out stages
Martinez defended keeping Ronaldo on for the duration of the match, with the 41-year-old the only Portugal player to have played every minute at this year’s World Cup
‘Our goal is to play eight games, it does not matter who they are against.
‘I think the team reacted well throughout the game.
‘Now it’s about improving and taking the game to where we want it to go, which is to have more possession of the ball and use the individual talent we have to achieve that.
‘For us, it was important to use many players, 22 have already played and that’s important.’
Ronaldo is the only player to have played every minute for Portugal in their three matches.
Martinez claimed the decision to stick with Ronaldo throughout will pay dividends in the latter stages.
‘For us, it’s very important to be able to synchronise his movements with the other ten players,’ Martinez said.
‘Cristiano is in good physical condition and he was very good today.’
