AN ENGLAND legend has highlighted a major concern regarding Cristiano Ronaldo that could scupper Portugal’s Euro 2024 hopes.
The forward, 39, made history by appearing at a record sixth European Championship on Tuesday.
Al-Nassr ace Ronaldo is already the all-time top scorer in Euro history with a tally of 14.
Now he has become the first player to feature at six separate Euros - a run that stretches back to 2004 - after helping Portugal to beat Czech Republic 2-1.
Ronaldo did fail to become the oldest goalscorer in the tournament’s history - but it was not for the want of trying.
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The former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker had five shots throughout the game.
And three of those were on target - but he was denied by Czech goalie Jindrich Stanek.
Fortunately for him and Portugal, 21-year-old substitute Francisco Conceicao came off the bench to win it in additional time.
However, ex-England left-back Stuart Pearce believes he has spotted a potential problem with Portugal.
And he claims that he feels some of Ronaldo’s team-mates do not seem to trust him as much as they used to in front of goal.
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Pearce, 62, was covering the game for talkSPORT and said: “This might sound ridiculous, but [maybe] they don’t trust Ronaldo enough to keep supplying him with the ball, that type of thing.
“There’s been times in the games where he’s shown to feet and they’ve not popped the ball into his net.
“There was one where Bernardo Silva, it was one of those rogue passes [by Czech Republic] that got cut out, Bernardo Silva had it in the centre circle.
“Ronaldo peeled off in an inside-right position, I’m thinking, ‘If this was ten years ago, you slide it in front of him and you know full well he’s going to get there and score’.
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“He [Silva) denied the pass, and I found that quite strange.”
It might have been a luckless night for Ronaldo, but Spanish World Cup winner Cesc Fabregas told BBC: “Whatever you do, if Ronaldo plays well or the team plays well, he always finds a chance.
“He takes care of himself to another level. He needs just one little moment of space to create a chance.
“His overall play has been much better than the last couple of years. He's always in front of the defender, he is unique.”
However, Alan Shearer added that he felt Portugal were looking for their talisman TOO MUCH.
He told BBC: “Sometimes Portugal were in good positions, but they were just looking for Cristiano Ronaldo, and there was better options on.”
