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Former France international Emmanuel Petit has questioned whether Portugal's national team manager Roberto Martinez is "brave enough" to drop Cristiano Ronaldo. He believes that the Portuguese superstar is better off coming on as a substitute, but his ego stops him.
Speaking to Sambaslots (via GOAL), Petit stated Ronaldo always shows commitment whenever he is on the pitch. However, the former Monaco midfielder hinted that the Al Nassr star puts his personal goals in front of the team's needs and said:
"Ronaldo always shows the same commitment, the same desire, he wants to win things despite his age. He wants to make history in every season, in every game he plays, he will have been sad at how the last tournament went with Portugal and will want to put that right at the World Cup. The biggest trouble is not about keeping Ronaldo in the Portugal squad, it's about if the manager is brave enough to tell him when he needs to start a game on the bench."
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"You can't be too scared not to start him. You need to have the guts to tell Ronaldo that sometimes he is better off coming off the bench, he can't play in every single game and if he does it will harm the mentality of the team. With the ego of Ronaldo, will he be willing to sit on the bench sometimes? I don't think he will. That's why it will only work if he has a strong manager."
Cristiano Ronaldo was benched at the FIFA World Cup 2022 by Fernando Santos, but the Portuguese manager was blasted by fans and eventually sacked after the tournament.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a difficult player to manage, claims Emmanuel Petit
Emmanuel Petit spoke to Poker Firma earlier this month and claimed that Ronaldo is a tough player to manage. He believes that the question will always remain if he should start every game for Portugal and said (via GOAL):
"When you have Cristiano Ronaldo, what do you do? Are you putting him in the first 11 every single game, or are you using him as a substitute for 30 minutes, 45 minutes? This is my question. Cristiano Ronaldo is such a huge name that it's complicated for any manager to put him on the bench. The Cristiano Ronaldo situation is a really difficult one for Roberto Martinez because he's such a superstar. It's very complicated for him – no manager wants to be the guy that tells Ronaldo you're on the bench or you're not playing anymore. Because of his profile, because of his status, he's a very difficult player to manage."
Cristiano Ronaldo has not yet confirmed if he will make himself available for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America. However, he has acknowledged that he will retire from the sport in the not-too-distant future.
