How easy is it to manage one of the greatest footballers of the 21st century at the twilight of his career? At 41, Cristiano Ronaldo still happens to be Portugal’s talisman heading into his sixth FIFA World Cup campaign this year, too. But the rider of having to manage a five-time Ballon d’Or winner wasn’t something Roberto Martinez had been daunted by since taking over the Portuguese national side since after the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Shortly after Martinez’s Belgium side crashed out of the 2022 World Cup in the group stages despite being ranked No. 2 in the world, he was offered the reins of Portugal after the Fernando Santos-led side exited in the quarter-finals. While most may have expected an ageing Ronaldo to have lost his final shot at World Cup glory then, the former Real Madrid striker has continued to maintain supreme levels of fitness on the road to the 2026 World Cup. Ronaldo’s remarkable standards as an athlete have made life easier for Martinez in his three-year journey with the former European champions, the 52-year-old Spaniard revealed in a recent conversation with BBC Sport. “Very easy,” Martinez said when asked about the potentially high-pressure task of managing Ronaldo, “because of his high standards, his expectations of how the work should be done and his commitment to the game.” “He truly is an example of what you should do to represent Portugal and the national team. And now he’s adapted, obviously, after 21 years in the national team – he’s adjusted. He’s a goalscorer, he’s an important player for us, and it’s the player that he is now that is important for me. As a national team coach, a player that has scored 25 goals in the last 30 international games… it’s not that he’s playing because of what he’s done in the past, it’s what he’s done now”, he said. Post the World Cup exit in 2022, Ronaldo moved to Al-Nassr in 2023 and has since racked up 117 goals to his exalted goal tally from 133 appearances for the Saudi Pro League club. Ronaldo’s future in Saudi had come under a cloud recently after his protests against the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns the Al-Nassr club. Reports had emerged that Ronaldo was angry that Al Nassr was not getting the same financial support from the sovereign wealth fund PIF as the other three clubs. Ronaldo, who turned 41 earlier this month, called off his strike last week, but has yet to make a competitive return for Al-Nassr.
‘Very easy’ to manage 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, says Portugal manager Roberto Martinez
