Paul Scholes: Cristiano Ronaldo's Role for Portugal in World Cup

Paul Scholes believes Cristiano Ronaldo has drifted from icon to issue for Portugal, arguing it is “not right” that a 41-year-old is still leading the line for a team chasing the biggest prize in world football.

The Manchester United great, who shared a dressing room with Ronaldo for six years at Old Trafford, did not sugar-coat his view after watching Portugal labour to a 1-1 draw with DR Congo in Houston.

A quiet night for a giant

On a night that should have been another chapter in Ronaldo’s remarkable World Cup story – his sixth, equalling Lionel Messi’s record – the spotlight instead turned harsh.

Portugal started well. Joao Neves struck in the sixth minute, and Roberto Martinez’s side took control of the ball and the tempo. They had the talent, they had the territory, they had the initiative.

What they did not have was a cutting edge.

Yoane Wissa punished them just before half-time, equalising against the run of play. From there, Portugal pushed but rarely truly threatened. The game drifted, the urgency faded, and the European giants had to settle for a draw.

In the middle of it all, Ronaldo barely left a footprint. No chances created. No shots. No successful dribbles. Not a single duel won in a dismal first half. For a player who built a career on bending games to his will, it was a stark, almost jarring sight.

Yet Martinez left him out there until the final whistle, choosing instead to withdraw Pedro Neto, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva, Tomas Araujo and Nuno Mendes.

Scholes: “He has to be a last-15-minutes player”

Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Scholes admitted he had already confronted the dilemma with Martinez in private, during a Stick to Football recording.

“I once had a conversation with Roberto Martinez off-camera… where I inquired, ‘Is he a problem for you?’, as I feel he is somewhat of a concern,” Scholes revealed.

For Scholes, the issue is not Ronaldo’s legacy or his eye for goal. It is his age – and what that means in the modern game.

“At 41 years of age… I believe there is only one position on the field where a player of that age should be starting, and that is as a goalkeeper, in my opinion.”

Ronaldo still offers goals, Scholes accepts that. In a side that dominates possession, he will find chances. But tournament football is rarely that simple. Games turn chaotic. Teams break. Matches become about transition, legs, and relentless running.

“Once there’s a game where it has to be transition… and there will be games like that. His movement at 41 years of age…” Scholes said, leaving the implication hanging.

In his view, Portugal are boxed in by reputation and reality.

“The trouble with Portugal is they haven’t really got an outstanding centre-forward anyway, have they? You’ve got to have somebody who runs,” he argued.

“For me, he has to be a player for the last 15 minutes. For a 40 or 41-year-old to be playing centre-forward, I just don’t get it.

“You might get away with it at centre-half, you might do in a team that keeps the ball and you probably get away with it as a goalkeeper, but as a centre-forward at 41… it’s not right.”

Icons, ego and an unforgiving stage

Scholes pointed to Luka Modric, now 40, as another example of a legend being stretched by the demands of international football.

“We saw it with Croatia and Luka Modric last night at 40 years old. Central midfield at 40…” he said, underlining how even the finest technicians struggle when the legs begin to go.

Ronaldo’s competitive fire, though, has never dimmed. Scholes is convinced the forward will be burning inside as he watches his great contemporaries light up the tournament.

“Cristiano will be so pissed off because Lionel Messi got a hat-trick, Kylian Mbappe got two… it will be killing him.”

That mentality is part of what made Ronaldo who he is. It is also part of the bind Martinez now finds himself in.

“I feel sorry for Martinez because he’s trying to embrace it and he’s saying, ‘No, I’ve got the best goalscorer in the world’, but deep down he must know that’s hurting his team.”

Portugal arrive at this World Cup as Nations League champions, armed with a deep, gifted squad and listed among the favourites alongside France, Spain, England and Argentina. They have the tools to go the distance.

But as the stakes rise and the games grow sharper, Martinez will have to decide: is Ronaldo still the man to carry them, or has the greatest goalscorer of his generation become the luxury they can no longer afford to indulge from the first whistle?