‘The team needs to score, not you’ – Ronaldo struggles as rivals sparkle

Three of football’s biggest superstars lit up the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday.

Kylian Mbappe’s two goals against Senegal made him France’s all-time leading scorer.

Norway’s Erling Haaland then marked his World Cup debut with two goals in a victory against Iraq.

Lionel Messi went one better, netting a hat-trick for Argentina against Algeria to move level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose as the joint-leading goalscorer in World Cup finals history.

On Wednesday, the stage was set for Cristiano Ronaldo to make his own mark on the tournament – but the Portugal captain was unable to follow suit.

His side laboured to a 1-1 draw against DR Congo, and Ronaldo struggled to make an impact in his first opportunity to make history by becoming the first man to score in six different World Cups.

As the game wore on, Ronaldo appeared increasingly desperate to end a run of nine matches at major tournaments without scoring and he squandered his side’s best chance for a winner when his run blocked a cut-back to Bruno Fernandes, who was in a better position near the penalty spot to score.

Speaking on Fox Sports, former France striker Thierry Henry said Ronaldo was being selfish by taking the pass to Fernandes for himself.

“If he goes into the six-yard box, the defender would have had to follow him and it would have been a tap-in for Fernandes,” said Henry.

“Because he wants to score, he goes into the path of the pass.

“That’s my thing – the team needs to score, not you.”

By starting the match, Ronaldo became the oldest outfield player to start a World Cup match at 41 years and 132 days of age.

It was a surprise, therefore, that the veteran was left on the field for the duration of the match.

Ex-Premier League striker Chris Sutton, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live, was critical of boss Roberto Martinez’s decision to leave Ronaldo – who has 229 caps and 143 goals for his country – on the field for the full match in Houston.

As striker Goncalo Ramos replaced midfielder Vitinha in the 83th minute, Sutton said: “That’s embarrassing from Martinez. It might work but are we all watching a different game?

“He’s scared to take him off. He’s not the manager. [Ronaldo] may end up scoring the winner but the game has passed him by today.”

Before kick-off, ex-England captain Wayne Rooney joked that his former Manchester United team-mate would be “raging – but in a good way” that the other stars had begun the tournament so well the previous day.

“That’s how he’s pushed himself and his mentality is that everything is a challenge for him,” said Rooney on BBC One.

“Over the years, him and Messi have pushed each other to get to these levels.

“He wants to be the best and that’s not in a bad way. He’ll want to go out there and score two or three tonight to show he’s still at that level.”

But Portugal’s opening group match did not go to plan for Ronaldo nor his much-lauded team-mates, despite them taking a sixth-minute lead when Pedro Neto’s left-wing cross was superbly headed in by Paris St-Germain’s Joao Neves.

Newcastle forward Yoane Wissa nodded in a deserved equaliser for DR Congo just before half-time and for all Portugal’s dominance of the ball – they had 75% possession – they managed only seven attempts at goal. Only one – the goal scored by Neves – was on target.

Al-Nassr striker Ronaldo, who is closing in on 1,000 career goals for club and country, had two chances in quick succession midway through the second half.

Half-time substitute Francisco Conceicao twice cut the ball back to him from the right.

The first was played slightly behind Ronaldo, who sent a tame effort past the near post. While the ball was in a better position for the second opportunity, the forward was put under pressure by the DR Congo defence and his finish flew wide.

Ronaldo has now gone 10 consecutive games at major tournaments without finding the net since a penalty against Ghana at the 2022 World Cup.

His tally of 25 touches was the fewest of Portugal’s outfield players who played the full match.

“His stats will never be the best,” said Rooney at full-time. “What he needs is chances. If he gets good chances, he’ll score goals.”

Rooney and fellow BBC pundits Gael Clichy and Olivier Giroud all thought Conceicao was in a better position to shoot at goal himself rather than try to set up Ronaldo for the striker’s first chance.

Former France full-back Clichy also believed Ronaldo’s superstar status might “unconsciously” have an effect on how some of his team-mates play.

“We said at the beginning of the game that Ronaldo will be helping young players because of his character and experience, but sometimes unconsciously those kinds of players can kind of take too much light,” he told BBC One.

“In the first chance, maybe if it was not Ronaldo, [Conceicao] would have had a go at goal.

“I’ve lived it with some players at Arsenal and Manchester City, where you feel that the player is such an important player, unconsciously he’s taking everything from every player.

“I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but when you take them out, you can see players taking responsibility.”

Clichy said that situation was not necessarily Ronaldo’s fault and added: “This is normal and this is where the choice of the manager is important because during the 90 minutes, we were saying ‘is he going to take him out because we know he’s got a goal in him?’

“But at the same time, we know the game is sometimes not natural because of him being on the pitch.”