Diogo Dalot leapt to the defence of Cristiano Ronaldo as he defined his crew had been well-prepared for criticism of the Portugal captain on the World Cup.
Portugal started their Group Ok marketing campaign with a 1-1 draw towards DR Congo at Houston Stadium, with Yoane Wissa cancelling out Joao Neves’ sixth-minute opener.
Ronaldo performed the period of that encounter however struggled to make an impression, with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner failing to hit the goal with any of his three pictures.
He has now gone 10 consecutive video games with out scoring a aim at main tournaments for Portugal (World Cup/EUROs), the longest run of his worldwide profession.
Ronaldo’s final strike in both of the 2 competitions was towards Ghana on MD1 of the 2022 World Cup, and he has been criticised for his shows at worldwide degree.
However Dalot defended the 41-year-old regardless of his latest struggles, saying: “It is quite simple. Within the locker room, at our stadium, we had the chance earlier than arriving on the World Cup to have an in depth dialog about this. It was nearly as if we would anticipated that this is able to occur.
“In fact, when you’ve gotten a squad like this, particularly with a participant like Cristiano, we have now to be ready, a bit of greater than typical.
“The truth that we had that pre-World Cup dialog to arrange ourselves for these moments meant that when it truly occurred, we had been capable of ship the message that the group is unshakeable – we knew this was going to occur.
“We knew we would face difficulties and criticism. Typically unfair, generally unfaithful, and infrequently blown out of proportion.”
0 – Cristiano Ronaldo has now gone 10 consecutive main event video games with out scoring for Portugal (FIFA World Cup/EURO):
33 shots11 on target0 objectives
Drought. pic.twitter.com/PYQIHPgCkM
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 17, 2026
Ronaldo’s aim drought in main tournaments has seen him try 33 pictures and amass an anticipated objectives (xG) complete of 4.5 throughout these 10 matches.
Certainly, excluding penalties, Ronaldo has gone 13 appearances and not using a main event aim, firing in 42 non-penalty pictures value 4.5 non-pen xG in these outings.
Portugal’s World Cup marketing campaign continues on Tuesday towards event debutants Uzbekistan, who had been overwhelmed 3-1 by Colombia of their opening group match.
This would be the first ever encounter between the 2 nations, although Portugal are winless of their final two World Cup matches towards groups from the AFC confederation.
Nonetheless, Dalot has backed Ronaldo to bounce again towards Fabio Cannavaro’s aspect as they proceed their hunt for a primary World Cup title.
“Everybody already is aware of how nicely Cristiano handles criticism. He has over 20 years of expertise with the nationwide crew,” Dalot added.
“I feel what he conveys to the crew, that confidence, these criticisms are simply a part of the sport, particularly given the extent at which we’re able to enjoying, being in one of many greatest, if not the largest, competitions on this planet.
“The arrogance he instils in us, and we in him, has at all times been the identical and at all times will likely be.
“So long as he represents the nationwide crew, I feel he’ll at all times have that capability and can at all times be able to play.”
