Weak-willed Roberto Martinez is letting Portugal down with continued Cristiano Ronaldo indulgence at Euro 2024

The social media meltdown that followed Ronaldo's penalty miss was utterly unsurprising. He is the player that half the world loves to hate. A pile-on was predictable. Ronaldo's reaction was anything but, though.

There is absolutely no shame in crying, no matter the circumstances, but Martinez tried to portray the forward's tears as a positive, a moving manifestation of his love of his country and his colleagues.

"Those emotions are incredible for someone who has won everything and experienced everything," the Seleccao coach said. "He doesn't need to care that much and that is why I thank him for the way he is. For caring for the group."

It was pure rubbish, though. Absolute fantasy. This wasn't the heartwarming story of a team player; it was a cautionary tale about indulging an individual. The previous 105 minutes proved that, with Ronaldo putting his interests ahead of those of the team time and time again.

Having gone four games without a goal at the Euros, it was painfully obvious from the first whistle in Frankfurt that his primary objective was not to win - but to score. And his attempts to do so thus became increasingly farcical.

This was the Cristiano Ronaldo show and nobody else was allowed to take centre stage. At one point, he decided to shoot from an acute angle wide on the left-hand side rather than allow Bruno Fernandes or Bernardo Silva to bend the ball into the area for the likes of Pepe, Ruben Dias - and Ronaldo himself - to attack. And that is the thing about Ronaldo's selfishness, it's so counterproductive. Not even he benefits from such brattish behaviour.

Because Ronaldo managed to make a European Championship last-16 tie all about him, because he took on all of the responsibility, he eventually cracked under the needless amount of self-applied pressure.

It was arguably inevitable but nonetheless shocking, given Ronaldo has long been a big-game player, the kind of character that always keeps coming back for more. The Portuguese is the poster boy for perseverance, the personification of the old adage, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'

Such relentlessness transformed a skinny winger from Madeira into one of the most impressive physical specimens in sport. There was nothing he couldn't do, no game he couldn't dominate, no record he couldn't smash. He was football's ultimate goalscoring machine.

It was, thus, jarring to see him break down so spectacularly in Frankfurt. It had been coming, though.

Ronaldo was on the edge right from the off and with each miss, he became even more anguished, even more demonstrative, throwing his hands into the air, appealing not just to officials for fouls but also to the heavens for divine intervention.

This was Ronaldo raging against the dying of the light, futilely fighting Father Time in front of the watching world. It made for a compelling spectacle. To some, it was the height of hilarity; to others, so very sad.

It was hardly his fault, though. Ronaldo should have been saved from himself long before his penalty miss, because those tears were not normal, not at that stage of the game. As Pat Nevin said on BBC Radio Five Live, "He's missed a penalty; he shouldn't be crying." In that sense, Ronaldo's reaction wasn't just shocking, it was worrying, because this is quite clearly a man struggling terribly with his diminishing returns.

He has played, looked and acted like a football god for so long that the realisation that he's a mere mortal is clearly incredibly difficult for him to comprehend, let alone accept. And that's where Martinez has failed both Ronaldo - and Portugal.

The Seleccao needed a strong leader after their calamitous World Cup campaign in Qatar; instead Portugal appointed a weak-willed manager in Martinez, a 'Yes Man' more than happy to satisfy Ronaldo's every whim.

One can perhaps understand why the Spaniard was so reluctant to ask Superman to serve as a sidekick. After all, Ronaldo probably did more good work on the touchline during Portugal's Euro 2016 final win over France than the Spaniard has managed in his entire coaching career.

However, Martinez was hired to win the European Championship for Portugal - not Ronaldo - and by continually putting the latter first, he has jeopardised the former's hopes of success. The truly frustrating thing about this whole affair, though, is that it was all so avoidable.

This is a mess all of Martinez's making, one that could have been so easily avoided had he not passed up a glorious opportunity to move on from the cult of CR7 after the 2022 World Cup - and build a new Portugal project squad around the likes of Rafael Leao, Diogo Jota and Goncalo Ramos. Because of Ronaldo's status, it obviously would have been a hotly debated decision - but also unquestionably the correct call.

The excuse Martinez required was right there: evidence of Ronaldo's decline had been there for all to see in Qatar. What's more, one of the finest footballers of all time had become a damaging distraction detracting attention, time and energy away from the task at hand. Bruno Fernandes and several other Portugal players grew understandably weary of fielding questions about the Seleccao's struggling skipper.

It's happening again now. Ronaldo remains the story in the Portugal camp - and Martinez only has himself to blame.

While such a weak-willed manager was never going to relegate Ronaldo to the role of super-sub, Martinez could have at least shown sufficient strength and intelligence to rest the five-time Ballon d'Or winner against Georgia.

Instead, Martinez made a bad situation much, much worse by once again starting a 39-year-old attacker quite visibly in dire need of a rest - and a break from carrying around such a heavy weight of expectancy - thus replicating the mistake made by Fernando Santos in Qatar.

It proved a predictably dreadful decision. Another goal-less game only intensified the pressure on his No.7 going into the Slovenia shambles and it all became too much for Ronaldo to take after seeing Jan Oblak saving his spot-kick.

As the teams gathered for their team-talk during extra-time, Portugal's players tried to console their captain, who was in floods of tears. Ronaldo revealed afterwards that he felt as if he had hit "rock bottom", evidently overwhelmed by the fact that after years of carrying his team-mates, they are now carrying him.

Ronaldo will still start again against France, of course, you can be sure about that, because Martinez has left himself with no other option. He needs his horribly ill-advised gamble to pay off - and maybe Ronaldo will roll back the years and come up trumps in Frankfurt.

Maybe Leao, Bruno or Bernardo Silva will put a chance on a plate for him, maybe he'll finally properly connect with one of those headers he's been repeatedly mistiming, or maybe Jota will win him another penalty, giving Ronaldo another shot at redemption.

It's all irrelevant, though, because no matter what happens next, there's no getting away from the fact that Ronaldo's continued presence is hurting Portugal rather than helping them. There are talented players in that Seleccao squad that deserve to start instead of him.

Ronaldo's taken more shots than anyone else in Germany and still not scored a single goal. Any other striker would have been dropped by now. And any other manager would have already made that call.

Because we shouldn't even be talking about courage at this stage. We should be talking about common sense - and, perhaps more importantly, the common good. So, don't let the master of misdirection convince you otherwise.