Roberto Martinez believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s experience and commitment is crucial to Portugal’s new cycle.Roberto Martinez believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s experience and commitment is crucial to Portugal’s new cycle.
Ronaldo became the most-capped men’s player of all time when he took to the field in Lisbon on Thursday for his 197th Portugal appearance.
The 38-year-old marked the occasion with two goals, scoring from the penalty spot before lashing in a free-kick to complete a 4-0 rout over Liechtenstein in Euro 2024 qualifying Group J.
Ronaldo was dropped to the bench by previous coach Fernando Santos for Portugal’s World Cup knock-out games, but Martinez wanted to get the five-time Ballon d’Or winner into his starting XI.
“It’s a new cycle,” Martinez told Portuguese media outlets.“It’s important for a player to show commitment and [to know] that we can use his experience, and Cristiano shows that.
Ronaldo took to his social media handle to show his excitement as he posted “Such good feelings to play and score again for our national team, in a special stadium for me,” “Proud to be the [most-capped] international player ever.”
Portugal continue their qualification campaign against Luxembourg on Sunday, making Martinez’ Portugal career starts an easy one.