Scholes Wades Into Ronaldo Row: "At 41, I Just Don't Get It"

Paul Scholes has joined the mounting chorus of criticism surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo's continued starring role for Portugal, declaring himself baffled by Roberto Martinez's decision to keep the veteran frontline regular.

The debate intensified after Portugal's 1-1 stalemate with DR Congo on Wednesday, a performance that left many questioning whether Ronaldo's presence on the pitch for all 90 minutes was doing more harm than good. At 41, his mobility has become increasingly limited—a reality that doesn't escape the eye of someone who spent six years sharing a dressing room with him at Old Trafford.

Scholes didn't hold back during an appearance on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, revealing he'd pressed Martinez directly on the matter when cameras stopped rolling. "I asked him off-camera, I said, 'Is he a problem for you?', because I feel he is a little bit of a problem," Scholes explained.

The veteran pundit's logic is straightforward: at Ronaldo's age, only goalkeepers should reasonably expect starting berths. "At 41 years of age… I think there's only one position on the pitch at 41 years of age where you should be starting a game and that's goalkeeper, for me," he said.

While acknowledging that Ronaldo remains a threat in possession-heavy situations, Scholes identified the real issue: transition football. "The trouble with Portugal is they haven't really got an outstanding centre-forward anyway, have they? You've got to have somebody who runs," he noted. "For me, he has to be a player for the last 15 minutes."

The comparison to Luka Modric's recent outing for Croatia at 40 reinforced his point. Playing a 41-year-old centre-forward simply doesn't work in modern football, according to Scholes—though he conceded it might just about wash at centre-half or in a team that dominates possession.

What must sting most, Scholes suggested, is watching rivals rack up the goals. "Cristiano will be so pissed off because Lionel Messi got a hat-trick, Kylian Mbappe got two… it will be killing him."

Despite Martinez's public backing of his star man—framing him as "the best goalscorer in the world"—Scholes suspects the manager knows the reality behind closed doors. "I feel sorry for Martinez because he's trying to embrace it and he's saying, 'No, I've got the best goalscorer in the world', but deep down he must know that's hurting his team."

Nicky Butt, another former United teammate, echoed the assessment, identifying ego as the root cause. "I think he's got that much of an ego, Cristiano. He's a great lad but he's got such an ego and he'll be a massive problem for that squad," Butt said.

The former midfielder pointed to Ronaldo's previous spell back at Manchester United as evidence that his personality can become a destabilising force. He also highlighted the peculiar dynamic Martinez faces: with roughly 18,000 of the 20,000 Portuguese fans at the DR Congo match sporting "Ronaldo 7" shirts, dropping the icon presents its own headaches.

"If you look at the fans last night, they had around 20,000 Portuguese fans and I reckon 18,000 had 'Ronaldo 7' on their back so you've also got that to deal with as a manager as well," Butt explained.