World Cup 2026: Portugal coach Martinez told to drop Ronaldo

Former Aston Villa captain, Gabriel Agbonlahor, has urged Portugal manager Roberto Martinez to see dropping skipper Cristiano Ronaldo from his starting XI arsenic they hole to look Uzbekistan successful their adjacent World Cup tie.

Agbonlahor insisted that Ronaldo has passed his best, adding that helium is not holding the shot up.

This comes aft the Al-Nassr guardant suffered disapproval for his show against DR Congo this week.

“I don’t deliberation helium should [start]. I look astatine Portugal, I look astatine the players that they’ve got, I look astatine different strikers that possibly they could person played successful beforehand of Ronaldo,” Agbonlahor said connected talkSPORT.

“But erstwhile it isn’t going well, instrumentality him off. That is the lone occupation I person with it. If you are going to commencement him and it’s not working, 55-60 minutes off.

“It’s not working. He’s not holding the shot up. He’s coming excessively heavy and trying to play a fig 10.

“CR7, for immoderate radical think, he’s past his best. End of story. But its ego, isn’t it? Cristiano Ronaldo, you could say, is bigger than Portugal. Well, helium is. Messi, his biggest rival this generation, has won the World Cup. Messi scored a hat-trick successful his archetypal game. Ronaldo’s thinking, I c...