Cristiano Ronaldo labelled one of Portugal's ‘weakest links' as Czechia legend & former Man Utd star warns 39-year-old he 'can't stop age' ahead of Euro 2024 clash

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is one of the greatest players to have ever graced a football field, but there is no escaping the fact that he is now 39 years of age. Ronaldo hit 50 goals for Al-Nassr in the 2023-24 campaign, but outings at another European Championship will see the level of opposition rise considerably.

Questions have been asked of whether Ronaldo, at his 11th major tournament, can rise to that challenge. Portugal are confident that he can, as they look to their talismanic captain for inspiration once again, but Poborsky says Czechia expect the presence of CR7 to work in their favour.

The former Manchester United winger, who earned 118 caps for his country and starred for them at Euro 96, has told CTK: “I have been saying for a long time that in that Ronaldo will be one of their weakest links. The fans of both teams will go crazy for him, but at his age he is not as good at building the game and pressing as his younger team-mates. So our team would rather him start. Hats off to him for what he has achieved – thanks to his enormous self-confidence. But you can’t stop age, he is 39. We don’t know how he is with coach Roberto Martinez, but it was written about before that his predecessor Fernando Santos already encountered a problem at the World Cup in Qatar.”

Ronaldo was benched at times by Santos at the 2022 World Cup, and has been warned that more spells among the substitutes may beckon. There is no doubting his goal-scoring ability, but whether he can still perform at an elite level through a packed month-long schedule remains to be seen.