Martinez's blind faith in Ronaldo torpedoed Portugal at Euro 2024

Cristiano Ronaldo has accomplished so much in his storied career. There are too many records to list. Too many trophies, too. He's won nearly all of them.

But Ronaldo, the most conspicuous player whenever he steps on a football pitch, managed something in Friday's Euro 2024 quarterfinal against France that he's never really done before.

The Portugal captain made himself anonymous.

Ronaldo spent the overwhelming majority of his team's eventual 5-3 shootout defeat stuck in William Saliba's pocket. Even Dayot Upamecano, who tends to err when put under the slightest bit of pressure, took some turns shackling him with ease over 120 tense goalless minutes at the Volksparkstadion.

There was a moment in the first half when Ronaldo, the target of a long ball over the top from Bruno Fernandes, had a step on the French centre-backs. In his all-conquering prime, it would have been a surprise had he not scored from this situation. But the current version of the most prolific marksman in men's international soccer history? Not quite. Lacking anything even remotely resembling explosiveness or breakaway speed, Ronaldo didn't even reach the pass. Saliba almost immediately reeled him in, shielded the ball, and, as if shooing a fly that is little more than a minor nuisance, turned away from the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and strode forward with possession.

Ronaldo, defeated, could only watch. There was a lot of that Friday.

He had the fewest touches of the 22 players who started the match. He had fewer touches than Francisco Conceicao, who came off the bench in the 74th minute. Ronaldo occasionally linked up with his teammates, but, more often than not, concluded a sequence of play by throwing his hands up in the air, exasperated after being unable to reach one of Portugal's many hopeful crosses. Try as they might - Nuno Mendes from the left, Joao Cancelo from the right, or Fernandes et al. through the middle - his teammates couldn't tee him up for a record-extending 131st international goal.

Instead of intricate passes and interchanging positions around the pitch, Portugal was stagnant and simple with the preening Ronaldo up front. Lacking pace to run behind defenders, it forced Portugal to resort to launching crosses into the box, an ill-fitting tactic for a team far more suited to using its vast array of skill to cut through the opposition. Portugal's 154 crosses are more than any other team at Euro 2024 by a wide margin; Germany, boasting aerial threats like Niclas Fullkrug and Kai Havertz, bowed out with 120.

Those tactics worked in qualifying against the likes of Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, when Ronaldo scored 10 goals, but held Portugal back when it really mattered. Not for the first time in this tournament, the 39-year-old was like an anvil weighing his wildly talented squad down.

And, not for the first time, it didn't matter at all to manager Roberto Martinez.

Despite Ronaldo's ineffectiveness in Germany, Martinez, lacking the gumption to make the painfully obvious decision that would benefit his team as a collective unit, just kept throwing him out there. Aside from the last 25 minutes in Portugal's final group match against Georgia - a game that didn't truly matter for the Selecao after they had already locked up first place in Group F - Ronaldo played every minute of Euro 2024. He went goalless.

For the first time in his 21-year international career, he didn't register a goal at a major international tournament, failing to add to his litany of records and become the oldest scorer in European Championship history. Going back to the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo's now failed to score in nine consecutive games at major competitions for his country.

Martinez often pointed to Ronaldo's stats in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) as justification for his continued selection. He scored 35 league goals for Al-Nassr, the most ever in a single SPL season, in 2023-24, after all. If he could do it against Al-Shabab and Al-Okhdood, why not Les Bleus? Whether Martinez truly believed what he was peddling, we'll probably never know. But that didn't stop him from keeping Diogo Jota and Goncalo Ramos stapled to the bench for Friday's knockout match. Two very different forwards who each bring more to the table than Ronaldo at this point in their respective careers couldn't get a sniff.

Meanwhile, Rafael Leao, Portugal's most dynamic winger, was substituted. Fernandes, the team's most creative midfielder, was taken off. Vitinha, who is quickly ascending to superstardom, also got the hook. Ronaldo, though, lumbered on. When he did get his one big chance, created after some fine work by twinkle-toed winger Conceicao, he swung a tired leg at it and sent it high into the Hamburg sky.

Sure, he converted his pressure-filled spot-kick in the shootout for the second consecutive game. But had Martinez followed in the footsteps of predecessor Fernando Santos - who famously benched Ronaldo two years ago in Qatar - instead of showing blatant deference, he might not have needed to. France, still without a goal from open play at Euro 2024, was there for the taking. A semifinal meeting with a banged-up and suspension-riddled Spain was within touching distance.

From there, who knows what could happen? Nobody, now.

Portugal was more than good enough to win Euro 2024. But Ronaldo, unwilling to accept that even he can be in decline, clung on. And Martinez, playing the role of cheerleader instead of coach, allowed it to happen.

Letting go is hard. Unless you're Pepe, who, at 41, was still chasing down the much younger, much fresher Marcus Thuram in a straight sprint in the 91st minute of Friday's affair, everyone's time comes to take a back seat. Even those not fighting Father Time sometimes realize when it's time to concede that it just isn't your day. Case in point: France captain Kylian Mbappe, who has long idolized Ronaldo, was substituted midway through extra time Friday, asking to be removed because, as Didier Deschamps said, he was "not at his top form" and "felt very tired."

He stepped aside for the better of the team. Ronaldo didn't. He couldn't. Maybe it was pure egotism - he's far from the only elite athlete to exhibit that, of course. Maybe he truly felt like he gave Portugal the best chance to win. Maybe, knowing this was his sixth and final European Championship, he wanted to leave everything on the pitch until the last second. Maybe it was a combination of it all.

Whatever the reason, Martinez cowed. He didn't have the clout to stop it.

Ronaldo is a titan of the sport and an icon to many of the players whom he called teammates at this tournament. And none of that changes that fact that his presence on the pitch made Portugal actively worse in Germany. Instead of pushing forward for a continental title that this group was certainly capable of capturing, Portugal exited Euro 2024 in inconspicuous fashion, failing to score in its last 360 minutes of play. Just like its captain.