Cristiano Ronaldo will not look back on the last World Cup with the best memories. The 37-year-old Portuguese was eliminated with his country in the quarterfinals against Morocco (1-0), while he did not start in the starting line-up after the group stage. Ronaldo only scored from a penalty kick in the opening game with Ghana (3-2 win), after which he remained dry in the following four games. Reason enough for the Spanish sports newspaper Mundo Deportivo to give him a place in the worst team of the World Cup, which also includes Sergiño Dest and Lautaro Martínez.
“The Portuguese striker has not had a good World Cup in Qatar and his participation has been marked by controversy,” the newspaper explained. “He arrived after launching a ‘bomb’ at Manchester United, lost his starting spot due to disrespecting his teammates after being substituted against South Korea and failed in the quarter-finals against Morocco.” Just before arriving at the Portuguese national team, the interview of the then Manchester United player with Piers Morgan was made public. Partly for this reason, the now dismissed national coach Fernando Santos was constantly asked about the situation of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. Ronaldo started all matches in the group stage, in which he scored a goal.
In the round of 16 against Switzerland (6-1) started CR7 surprisingly on the couch. Ronaldo then had to watch competitor Gonçalo Ramos produce a hat-trick against the Alpine country. In the quarterfinals, the currently transfer-free Ronaldo was brought in five minutes after the break with a 1-0 deficit against Morocco, but he was also unable to prevent elimination. Another notable name in the worst eleven is that of Martínez. The Internazionale striker became world champion with Argentina on Sunday, but el Toro killed many chances during the tournament and had no hits throughout the tournament. In the final against France, Martínez had several good opportunities, including a header at the end of extra time.
Dest is also part of the team of Mundo Deportivo. The American international, born in Almere, was eliminated with his country in the round of 16 by the Netherlands (3-1). The election for Dest can be called striking, as the Italian sports newspaper Corriere dello Sport after the US tournament, AC Milan, the club that is renting him from Barcelona this season, reported that he was satisfied with his performance. So much so that the management of Milan would now be willing to exercise the purchase option of approximately twenty million euros next summer.
Complete ‘Worst Eleven’ of Mundo Deportivo and their reviews:
Edouard Mendy (Senegal, 6.3); Sergiño Dest (USA, 6.5), Kamil Glik (Poland, 6.63), Abdou Diallo (Senegal, 6.47), Bartosz Bereszynski (Poland, 6.42); Mathew Leckie (Australia, 6.28), Hwang In-beom (South Korea, 6.53), Jackson Irvine (Australia, 6.5), Rubén Vargas (Switzerland, 6.53); Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 6.46), Lautaro Martinez (Argentina, 6.35).