Henry accuses Ronaldo of prioritising personal goals over Portugal in World Cup stumble

Thierry Henry has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of putting his personal desire to score ahead of Portugal’s collective needs following the team’s 1-1 draw with DR Congo in their World Cup Group K opener.

Ronaldo, appearing at a record-equalling sixth World Cup at the age of 41, squandered two chances to win the match and was kept on for the full 90 minutes despite a largely ineffective display. Henry, speaking on Fox Sports alongside pundit Alexi Lalas, pinpointed two specific moments where he felt Ronaldo’s positioning actively hindered his teammates.

“The team needs to score, not you need to score,” Henry said. “Because he wants to score, he goes into the path of Bruno Fernandes. If he goes into the six-yard box, you’ve been in that situation — you would have had to follow him. Then it would have been a tap-in for Bruno Fernandes.”

On a second incident, Henry added: “Because he wants to score, he goes in the path of the backpass. You see both players and it’s easier for you to defend. The team needs to score, not you.”

Chris Sutton was equally scathing about manager Roberto Martinez’s decision to leave Ronaldo on the pitch, posting on X: “Embarrassingly weak from Roberto Martinez. He should have hooked Ronaldo off but he’s too scared of upsetting him. Ronaldo is essentially the manager of Portugal. Well played DR Congo — deserved the point.”

Former England midfielder Joe Cole echoed those concerns, calling for Ronaldo to be used more selectively across the tournament. “What benefit is he going to be trying to play every minute of every game for eight matches?” Cole said on The Rest Is Football. “He needs to be used sparingly. The manager’s got to be strong enough to drop him.”

Martinez, for his part, acknowledged that Portugal lost their rhythm after the opening goal. “We started the match very well. Scoring should have been a great moment, but it wasn’t,” he said. “I think we lost a bit of our attacking depth, lost fluency in possession, and allowed them to regain their shape somewhat. The confidence they gained after the goal made the game very difficult, but that’s what happens at World Cups.”

Portugal now face Uzbekistan on Tuesday before closing out Group K against Colombia — who beat Uzbekistan 3-1 — on June 28. With qualification far from secure, the pressure on Martinez to make difficult decisions around his captain is only set to intensify.