Cristiano Ronaldo not being able to play a role for his team, I don't think that's it. It's not surprising that his not been delivering on the job as expected and by that, I mean the goal scoring but, his still very much a leader and the hope of the Portuguese team as he has always been.
I was thinking maybe that Christiano Ronaldo was reserving all the energy to showcase himself in this world compition and this was why he couldn't perform since the beginning of the premier league season, but I'm yet to see that in action. So I do believe that after some of their games, the team realized the need to start building a new team without Ronaldo , So this is what you can see from the entire Portugal team performance.
It should be understood that era come and go. The days of Cr7 are over. The competition is now between the younger stars, the likes of Mbappe, Neymar, Gonçalo Ramos (who has set a new record in the Qatar 2022 world cup). Anthony and Richarlison also have those threats of setting and breaking records before their careers gradually come to an end. Cr7 has been a good left winger from his early football career but as it stands age is no longer smiling at him, and he has been forced to play top nine which he is yet to adapt to and might never do because he bones are no longer strong to give him speed and quality shots on target.
CR7 has done his own side of football and it is time for young stars to take over from where he has stopped. You can't cheat nature as old age will deny you this. Ronaldo during his youthful age really did great things and made so many records in his career,so I will say he has achieved enough from football.
Mbappe is very young and vibrant,this is his time to exploit in football,I am looking up to him to make great history. It is a pity that our known super stars has turned to history. Nobody can reign forever in whatever he is doing for there are other people that must come to take over from you. Portugal did perfectly well without Ronaldo yesterday this shows that they will go far in this tournament.