Bench Cristiano Ronaldo?! Portugal advised to ignore CR7 ‘ego’ & give themselves ‘much bigger chance’ of winning Euro 2024 by dropping 128-goal superstar

The all-time great was dropped during the 2022 World Cup, after struggling to produce his best in Qatar, but has reclaimed his place as talismanic captain of his country under Roberto Martinez. He is showing no sign of slowing down at 39 years of age, with back-to-back hat-tricks for Al-Nassr taking him to 42 goals this season.

Ronaldo is also the all-time leading scorer in men’s international football, with the target found on 128 occasions through 206 appearances for Portugal, but former Liverpool star Patrick Berger believes the “ego” possessed by the evergreen frontman can be a problem.

With that in mind, and with Portugal set to face the Czech Republic in the group stage at this summer’s European Championship, Berger has - speaking to BoyleSports about the latest EURO 2024 odds – said: “His age is still a factor, even if he is one of the very best footballers of all time. But, he is 39. I actually thought that he shouldn't have been starting at the World Cup just over 18 months ago. I thought he would have been better off coming from the bench for the last 20 or 25 minutes. He will always create chances, it doesn't matter if it is in 90 minutes or the last 25. It would have been better for the whole team in Qatar, but with his ego and stuff like that it makes it hard to drop him. If he starts against the Czech Republic at Euro 2024, I would be happy. I think they have such a great team Portugal and can win the entire tournament, even without Ronaldo in the starting XI. They have a much bigger chance if he doesn't play every single game from the start. If he's on the bench, I would be more concerned. I think if they had done that in Qatar they could have got as far as the final.”

Ronaldo helped Portugal to continental glory back in 2016, despite having to leave the final of that tournament through injury, and remains as determined as ever to add to his remarkable haul of major honours.