‘Quite strange’ – England legend left baffled as Portugal stars refuse to pass to Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo was repeatedly overlooked by his Portugal teammates in their 2-1 win over Czech Republic, leaving an England legend stunned.

Roberto Martinez’s men left it late to claim all three points in their group F Euro 2024 opener at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.

Ronaldo struggled to assert himself in Portugal’s win over Czech Reoublic in LeipzigCredit: GettyPortugal had to come from behind to avoid a shock upset, with Francisco Conceicao firing home in stoppage time to spark wild scenes.

His late strike spared Ronaldo’s blushes, who squandered five out of Portugal’s 19 chances in what was a below-par performance from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

He missed a huge opportunity from close range in the first half, while he had just 32 touches during the 90 minutes – creating one big chance.

But his display wasn’t down to his lack of effort, with England legend Stuart Pearce noticing at half-time that his teammates appeared to be unwilling to play the forward in.

READ MORE ON CRISTIANO RONALDOSpeaking on talKSPORT commentary during the break, Pearce said: “This might sound ridiculous, but [maybe] they don’t trust Ronaldo enough to keep supplying him with the ball, that type of thing.”

talkSPORT presenter Adrian Durham pressed him to explain what he meant by Portugal’s star’s not trusting Ronaldo.

To which the ex-Manchester City boss stated: “There’s been times in the games where he’s shown to feet and they’ve not popped the ball into his feet.

“There was one with Bernardo Silva, it was one of these rogue passes [by Czech Republic] that got cut out.

Pearce believes that Ronaldo’s teammates were reluctant to pass to him in the first half at the Red Bull ArenaCredit: AFP

The Al Nassr striker wasn’t involved in the game as much as he would have liked to”Bernardo Silva had it in the centre circle, Ronaldo peeled off in an inside-right position.

“I’m thinking, ‘If this was ten years ago, you slide it in front of him and you know full well he’s going to get there and score.’

“He [Silva] denied the pass, and I found that quite strange.”

The Al Nassr striker is the top scorer in the history of the European Championship with 14 goals.

Prior to this tournament, he has scored in each of his first five European Championship outings and was the Golden Boot winner at Euro 2020.

Such was his confidence that Ronaldo would continue to deliver the goods, UFC star Conor McGregor lumped a whopping sum of money for him to be the top scorer once again.