Despite Portugal’s exit at the hands of Uruguay, inspirational captain Cristiano Ronaldo has arguably been the best player of the World Cup so far.
The 33-year-old helped his country open the tournament with an impressive 3-3 draw against 2010 world champions Spain by scoring a hat-trick.
He followed that up last Wednesday by scoring the only goal of the game as Portugal went on to defeat Morocco 1-0, and although he missed a penalty in his side’s final group game against Iran, Ronaldo rightly drew plaudits for his influential performance.
For the past decade, Portugal have been accused by many pundits and fans of being a one-man side that revolves around Ronaldo. Their performance at Russia 2018 will do nothing to eliminate those rumours, while Ronaldo’s form will likely put him in pole position to win the next Ballon d’Or award.
However, Chelsea star Fabregas, who is working as a pundit for BBC after not being included in the 23-man Spain squad, is not impressed by CR7’s performances at the World Cup: “Yes, he is playing well, but if you really look at what he has done, he has scored one penalty, one free-kick, one goal from a corner and one with a shot that David de Gea should have saved.
“You cannot say that he and Portugal have shown great combinations or tiki-taka football to score great goals. You have to give him credit, of course, but his goals have come from set-pieces, penalties or mistakes.”
