Is Cristiano Ronaldo Playing Tonight For Portugal Against Slovenia?

Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates have a huge score to settle, as they face Slovenia in the UEFA Euro’s round of 16 tonight. Portugal has met Slovenia only once in a friendly in March, this year. Slovenia humbled the 2016 Euro winners with a 2-0 scoreline in that game. Besides, Ronaldo has yet to score in the ongoing Euros, despite starting for the Selecao in all three group games. Hence, all eyes will search for the 5x-Ballon d’Or winner when the game starts at the Deutsche Bank Park on Monday.

Soccer analysts and experts largely questioned Roberto Martinez’s decision to start Cristiano Ronaldo against Georgia in Portugal’s final group game. Notably, Martinez rested other fellow Portuguese veterans in that game. So, is the 39-year-old skipper facing any fatigue, after playing till the end in three games? We have you covered.

Will Cristiano Ronaldo start against Slovenia?

Though Cristiano Ronaldo has unusually failed to score for Portugal till now, he has been vital to the squad as a team player. He has set up Bruno Fernandes and became the UEFA Euro’s assists leader during the group stage. Besides, he is one of the top 10 players in this Euro to have the most touches in the opposition box. Ronaldo, who has historically been hungry for more goals, never complained when his teammates overlooked him and passed the ball to fellow forwards in Portugal’s games. With CR7’s transition into being a team player, Roberto Martinez does not seem to have an option to not start him against Slovenia.

Neither is Ronaldo suffering from fatigue or any injury since the Euros started. Moreover, the 2016 Euro champion was seen training with his teammates in videos captured from the Selecao camp. Hence, fans can expect to see the Portuguese maestro’s action right from the beginning against Slovenia. Anyhow, as per the opinion of numerous soccer analysts, Ronaldo’s feature in Euro games seems to be a foregone conclusion. They say the Al Nassr star is the one who calls the shots in the Portuguese camp and not Roberto Martinez.

Analysts say Ronaldo decides whether he should play or not

Nobody expected Cristiano Ronaldo to lace up for Portugal’s last group game versus Georgia. In a game where veterans such as Bruno Fernandes, Pepe, and Bernardo Silva rested, it was logical for soccer enthusiasts to think the aging Ronaldo would also rest and save his best against Slovenia. But he started and lasted till the end, only to misfire and see Portugal lose against the underdogs.

Considering this, soccer analysts such as Craig Burley opined that CR7 decided he wanted to play and Martinez had no say in it. Burley added that Ronaldo started in that game because he wanted to score a goal and improve his stats. Anyhow, it is not safe to assume that Ronaldo is solely calling the shots. But if he were to feature in a less substantial game like the one against Georgia, where else would he go in a do-or-die game against Slovenia?