FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 did not go well for Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo. He had a rare record of scoring in the first match of the Qatar World Cup, but the tournament was forgettable after that.
Ronaldo, who aimed to win the World Cup, which is the only title left to win in world football, could not succeed in that. Ronaldo, who started all three matches of the group stage, could not play the full 90 minutes in any match throughout the tournament. In both matches of the knockout stage of the competition, he was left out of the starting lineup and remained on the bench.
This time in the World Cup, Ronaldo spent 291 minutes on the field in five matches. Even though Ronaldo did not play full time as Portugal was eliminated in the quarter-finals, he became the most offside player in the tournament. He was offside a total of seven times. In second place, Kylian Mbappe was offside six times while playing 597 minutes in seven games. Golden Ball winner Messi was offside three times while playing 690 minutes in seven matches. He was joint-10th with 12 other players on this list.
In the quarter-finals against Morocco, after Portugal trailed 1-0 in the first half, coach Fernando Santos sent Ronaldo off the field shortly after the start of the second half. But because Ronaldo and Portugal could not return the goal, the team lost. After the match, Ronaldo went to the dressing room with tears in his eyes.
Ronaldo became the first male player to score in five different editions of the World Cup when he scored a penalty against Ghana in the first match of the World Cup. In the second match against Uruguay, he came into the limelight because of his demand for Bruno Fernandes’ goal. In the third match, the coach, Santos, became angry because of his behavior when he was changed.
Ronaldo was on the bench for Portugal in the last-16 match. Although he entered the field at the end of the game, forward Goncalo Ramos, who replaced him, completed a hat trick and gave the team a 6-1 victory. Ramos performed very poorly in the quarterfinals. Even though Ronaldo entered the field in the second half, he could not change the result and left without the World Cup.
In total, Ronaldo played five times in the World Cup from 2006 to 2022. In this process, he has scored a total of eight goals. Ronaldo played a total of 22 matches in the World Cup.
