It is tough not to feel for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Juventus legend has given fans countless memories over the years, yet at his final World Cup, despite playing well, he has been made to answer for all of Portugal's issues and forced to face criticism from all corners, including disrespect from his own country.
Portuguese newspaper A Bola released a list of the 23 most disappointing players at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Many of their selections made a lot of sense. Neymar, Leroy Sane, Arda Guler, Fede Valverde, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Bruno Fernandes all had awful tournaments. But the exact ranking of their choices was haphazard in some spots, and there were a couple of legends who were unfairly criticized, such as Son Heung-min - and their own country's biggest legend.
Because despite scoring three goals while receiving no service, Cristiano was ranked by A Bola as the 10th most disappointing player at the World Cup. He ranked only two slots behind Bruno, who did almost nothing and was one of the worst players at the tournament, and he was placed on the list instead of Ruben Dias, Vitinha, and other Portuguese players who were beyond awful and cost the team games.
Cristiano Ronaldo never gets a fair evaluation
Cristiano Ronaldo is responsible for some of the best tournaments and individual performances in the history of Portuguese football. He carried Portugal to a World Cup, was part of the 2006 squad that went to the semifinals, won the 2016 European Championships, and played out of his mind at Euro 2012. and yet the minute he is not at that highest level, he is automatically the worst.
Ronaldo scored important goals for Portugal at the 2026 World Cup, and they pushed Spain to their limit in the Round of 16. If it were not for the injury to Nuno Mendes and the inexcusable defensive error from Ruben Dias on the goal Spain scored, Portugal may have won the game, though Ronaldo was totally starved of service by a horrid midfield and continued poor coaching from Roberto Martinez.
There is no way that Ronaldo had a more disappointing World Cup than Neymar, who made his team worse on the pitch and was genuinely past it, and likewise Viktor Gyokeres, Scott McTominay, Raphinha, and Arda Guler were also markedly worse than Ronaldo. Even in his last World Cup, the media can't help but throw Cristiano under the bus.
Add us as a preferred source on Google