Portugal coach Fernando Santos compares Cristiano Ronaldo to a bottle of port, which is a famous Portugal wine that gets better as it grows old, after his latest match winning goal against Morocco to seal a pre-quarter berth for his side. Ronaldo striked in the 4th minute of the game against the African team to clinch a 1-0 victory for Portugal. Earlier, he ensured a draw for his side against the world cup contenders Spain as he completed his hattrick in the game.
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Ronaldo has been the talk of the town as all the star players like Neymar, Messi and Mo Salah have failed to define themselves in the initial stages. However, Ronaldo has striked 4 goals in 2 matches and is amongst the top goal scorers of the tournament.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is like a port wine, he changes as he ages. He’s constantly evolving, unlike regular players he’s always evolving,” Santos said.
“He won’t be doing the same thing in two or three years and he’s not doing what he did four or five years ago. He knows himself well and knows what he needs to do.
2018 World cup may prove to be the last time for the star striker to be playing in the Portugal outfit. Ronaldo, 33 is uncertain of continuing at 37 when the next world cup rolls up. However the Madeira lad’s pace and scoring ability has not declined with the growing age and it will not be a surprise if he can continue till 2022.
Manchester City and Portugal’s star midfielder Bernardo Silva also admits that Ronaldo is a fantastic player. He further said that he is one of the best player in football history.
Morocco coach Herve Renard strengthened the Morocco defence but the Portugal captain still managed to draw first blood, which proved decisive.
“Even if you want to draw up plans for Ronaldo, he always finds a way out,” Renard said.
“He’s absolutely exceptional. Perhaps that word isn’t even strong enough.” Morocco defender Mehdi Benatia claimed his side proved they belong at the World Cup after a 20-year absence, but the Juventus centre-back conceded there was simply no answer to Ronaldo.
“We held our own against the European champions,” Benatia said. “They have big names, stars, everything you want.” “We gave it everything but you saw (the ball) just didn’t want to go in,” he added.
“Unfortunately they have someone like Cristiano Ronaldo who is capable of scoring with a half-chance
