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In the face of criticism
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez has confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo has an “exceptional passion” to help the team, highlighting the experience the national team captain provided in the dressing room ahead of their World Cup group stage second-round clash with Uzbekistan.
Martinez said during a press conference at NRG Stadium“Cristiano is a leader and acts as a leader, and he has a lot of experience that we can all benefit from. We are talking about a player who has spent 21 years representing Portugal and he has a great passion to help and he is also a role model for everyone.”
“When we have the ball, we need a player who attacks spaces and sets them up with the last touch. Cristiano is that player and the numbers reflect that. He is a player who has this movement and the ability to finish attacks and he is the last piece in the game model that we adopt in Portugal.”
The Portugal coach has confirmed that his team has been subjected to unfair criticism in recent days.
He continued. “There is a lot of wrong noise, things that do not make sense and are not part of our daily life.
“I have to say that since my first day in Portugal, not a single day has passed without a fuss. We’re at the World Cup and there’s a lot of talk and it’s about knowing who is with the national team and who isn’t, but in the dressing room we have to show more individuality than unity. The noise does not enter the dressing room before the World Cup.”
Martinez explained that his team needs to stay calm and play through the tournament.
“This has become part of our work. Reaching the World Cup means playing three matches at this stage and nothing changes. We have to prepare, analyze and criticize ourselves and we did that after the last game, where we discussed the reasons for not reaching the final third of the pitch and let go of the anger and sadness that came from not getting the result.
