CRISTIANO RONALDO was surprisingly BENCHED in Portugal's penultimate Euro 2024 warm up match against Croatia.
And the bold call from manager Roberto Martinez looks to have backfired as a lacklustre Portugal lost 2-1 to Luka Modric's inspired side.
Goals in each half by Modric and Ante Budimir gave Croatia a historic first win over the Euro 2016 winners in eight matches.
Ronaldo had only joined the Portuguese national team camp the day before the match in Lisbon, so Martinez may have been resting him.
But Ronaldo did not get off the bench, meaning he's received zero minutes for Portugal since March's 2-0 defeat to Slovenia.
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The five-time Ballon d'Or has had to get used to being benched in recent years.
He was dramatically dropped for Portugal's round of 16 tie against Switzerland at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Pepe took up the captain's armband in Ronaldo's absence, and replacement striker Goncalo Ramos netted a hat-trick in the 6-1 win.
He was again benched in the quarter-final exit to Morocco, but was brought on at half-time with Portugal trailing 1-0.
The 39-year-old is set to make a record sixth appearance at Euro 2024.
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International football's all-time top goalscorer with 128 goals, Ronaldo helped Portugal win the Euros from the sidelines in 2016.
After an early injury left him in tears against France, he spent most of the additional time on his feet in the technical area with his knee bandaged up.
Yet he inspired his side to victory from the side-lines, after issuing his own instructions behind then coach Fernando Santos.
Portugal has only won one game inside 90 minutes throughout the tournament, which came against in the semi finals against Wales.
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Aside from that, Portugal drew their three group games against Iceland, Austria and Hungary and beat Croatia in the last-16 with an extra time winner from Ricardo Quaresma.
Portugal have one more friendly — against Ireland on Tuesday — before they start Euro 2024 against the Czech Republic on June 18.
