Cristiano Ronaldo cares about team, not himself – Bruno Fernandes

Many football boffins reckon that Cristiano Ronaldo is self-centred as he always wants to score the goals by himself but Portugal’s midfielder Bruno Fernandes has squashed such claims. Fernandes, who also played with Ronaldo for Manchester United, said the Portuguese cares about the team and not himself.

Ronaldo has been a goal-scoring machine but he showed he can also provide the assist. The talisman was one-on-one with Turkiye goalkeeper Altay Bayindir but decided to pass the ball to Bruno Fernandes, who was open to his left.

This was the eighth assist for Ronaldo in Euro history, which is the most in the tournament for any player. But Portugal was stunned by Georgia in their last group stage match by 2-0.

“For Cristiano Ronaldo, the most important thing is for the team to succeed,” Fernandes told a news conference on Sunday. “For him [passing to Fernandes against Turkey] was the best decision at the moment but if he had taken a shot, we would have had the same result.”

Ronaldo is set to start Portugal’s round-of-16 clash against Slovenia in Frankfurt on Monday. But he was dropped by former manager Fernando Santos for the knockout tie against Switzerland at the 2022 World Cup.

Portugal will be the favorites to win but Slovenia had stunned Martinez’s team in a friendly contest in March.

“It’s do or die,” Martinez said. “It’s not easy to play at a Euros but we are prepared. Slovenia are very well organised and competitive and we need to be at our best. This tournament starts now. Portugal is fresh and we’re ready.”

Meanwhile, Fernandes wants his team to bring their best against Slovenia if they are to go through.

“We want to win every single game so that means reaching the final and winning the final,” Fernandes said.

“No team wants to go home early, least of all Portugal because we are aware of our quality. We had a friendly when they beat us and this needs to put us on our toes. They had a great defence but we need to find solutions.”