{"id":744143,"date":"2026-06-18T09:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744143\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:07:16","slug":"2026-fifa-world-cup-cristiano-ronaldo-panned-as-portugal-flop-against-democratic-republic-of-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744143\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 FIFA World Cup: Cristiano Ronaldo panned as Portugal flop against Democratic Republic of Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the best part of two decades it\u2019s been the perennial debate in world football. Who\u2019s the greatest of all time, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?<\/p>\n

If the argument were based on this week alone, the answer would be indisputable.<\/p>\n

After Messi lit up the World Cup with a hat-trick for Argentina at the ripe age of 38, all eyes were on his long-term rival Ronaldo.<\/p>\n

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But the 41-year-old endured a game to forget on Thursday as he managed the least touches of any Portugal player \u2014 and no shots on target \u2014 as his side failed to overcome the tournament\u2019s 1000-1 rank outsiders the Democratic Republic of Congo in their 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n

Such was his performance, or lack thereof, that a host of ex-footballers lined up to urge Ronaldo to call time on his international career.<\/p>\n

Speaking on SBS, former Barcelona star Kevin-Prince Boateng did not hold back. \u201cCan I be honest? Ronaldo, if he were a real team player, he would step down and let the young players flow. Portugal is a better side without him … he is not the same player.\u201d<\/p>\n

While former England international Chris Sutton didn\u2019t call for him to hang up his boots, he made it clear he feels Ronaldo\u2019s presence is holding Portugal back.<\/p>\n

\"KANSASKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – JUNE 16: Lionel Messi #10 of Argentina celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group J match between Argentina and Algeria at Kansas City Stadium on June 16, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Charlotte Wilson\/Getty Images) Credit: Charlotte Wilson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Commentating for the BBC Sutton blasted Portugal manager Roberto Martinez for keeping Ronaldo on the pitch despite a torrid performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s embarrassing from Martinez … are we all watching a different game? He\u2019s scared to take him off … but the game has passed him by today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronaldo was clearly disappointed with his own performance, refusing to speak to media after the final whistle. He later acknowledged on X that \u201cit wasn\u2019t the start we wanted\u201d but vowed his side\u2019s World Cup was \u201cfar from over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite similarly storied club careers, in which the duo laid claim to the Ballon d\u2019Or 15 times in 17 years, Messi has had the edge on Ronaldo at football\u2019s biggest competition.<\/p>\n

While the pair share the record for most World Cups played in (six) Messi has the joint most goals in the competition (16) compared with Ronaldo\u2019s eight.<\/p>\n

Portugal have made it to one semi-final in that stretch (in 2006) and Ronaldo has infamously never scored beyond the group stages.<\/p>\n

Messi has played in two World Cup finals, in 2014 and in 2022, scoring twice in the latter as he lifted the trophy following victory over France.<\/p>\n

While there is still plenty of time in the competition to reignite the greatest of all time debate \u2014 much of Thursday\u2019s chatter was about the greatest right now.<\/p>\n

\"ARLINGTON,ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JUNE 17: Harry Kane #9 of England celebrates his second goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group L match between England and Croatia at Dallas Stadium on June 17, 2026 in Dallas, United States. (Photo by Richard Pelham\/Getty Images) Credit: Richard Pelham\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Harry Kane scored twice for England as they beat Croatia 4-2. Kane scored an astonishing 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern Munich this season and is widely tipped to claim his first Ballon d\u2019Or \u2014 the annual prize for the world\u2019s best player,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the best part of two decades it\u2019s been the perennial debate in world football. Who\u2019s the greatest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,588,85],"class_list":["post-744143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}