MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said it would be "childish" to compare Cristiano Ronaldo's needs with those of Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland after insisting that his forward is "mentally and physically" able to play every minute of the team's World Cup campaign.
Ronaldo completed the full 90 minutes of Portugal's 0-0 draw with Colombia on Saturday, ensuring that the 41-year-old has played all 270 minutes of his country's Group K fixtures.
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The former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward offered little threat against the Colombians, who topped the group and forced Portugal into the runners-up spot and a round-of-32 tie against Croatia in Toronto on Thursday.
But while Norway and Argentina have rested star forwards Haaland and Messi in their final group games, Martinez said that he had no reason to do the same with Ronaldo just because other players have been taken out of the starting lineup.
"We don't compare with other players of other teams," Martinez said when asked about Ronaldo being rested like Haaland or Messi. "That would be childish.
"Cristiano is used to being in the right place at the right time. It's more a question of mentally being strong and always being disciplined in position and always opening space in our attacking patterns.
"It's not an issue for Cristiano to play 90 minutes, but maybe the next game we need to make a change, but that's like any other player.
"We have used 21 outfield players, so we do share the minutes.
"We monitor all the information we get in games, what we do in training games and there is always an opportunity to make changes.
"Today, we used João Neves and Rúben Neves for 45 minutes, we did the same with Diogo Dalot and João Cancelo because different positions have different needs.
"There are some players who are not at full fitness, but all of the data we collect is very important in helping us make those decisions."
Portugal's failure to win the group means they could now be heading for a round-of-16 clash against Euro 2024 winners Spain.
But Martinez said the only objective in the group was to qualify and then start the World Cup for real.
"Now it's time to adjust, improve, and steer the matches where we want them, with more possession and better control," he said. "This is part of the World Cup, part of the existing tactics, and as I said, we needed these three matches to reach our best level. It was a very valuable match.
"We want to be here for eight matches and it is a different tournament now."
