Diego Forlan's Tactical Plea for Cristiano Ronaldo at Portugal
Diego Forlan knows what it is to live in the penalty area. He also knows what happens when a centre-forward stops moving.
So when the former Manchester United striker looked at Cristiano Ronaldo’s role for Portugal, his verdict on ESPN’s La Casa del Kun cut straight to the heart of the debate: Ronaldo’s presence as a static No.9, he argued, is making life far too comfortable for opposition defenders and choking the life out of Portugal’s attack.
From Forlan’s point of view, the issue isn’t Ronaldo’s finishing. That remains. It’s everything around it.
"I'm speaking as a striker, the problem is that Cristiano is in the center, he is who he is, he is there as a No.9, and he stays there to take advantage of the goal because he no longer goes out to look for the ball, but he ends up conditioning Portugal," Forlan explained.
In other words: when Ronaldo plants himself between the centre-backs and waits for the chance, the rest of the team pays the price. The defensive line doesn’t have to adjust, doesn’t have to make decisions. It just holds its shape and waits with him.
"It's the typical situation where we used to say, 'I'm staying here because I'm close to the goal to score,'" Forlan continued, "but you don't understand that you end up hurting your team because both center backs stay there, you don't move. The center backs stay put, one becomes a reference point and the other is left out. You have no one who can get to you because you start closing down that space."
That “closed” space is where Portugal’s other stars should be operating. Bruno Fernandes between the lines. Bernardo Silva drifting into pockets. Rafael Leao attacking gaps in behind. When Ronaldo fixes himself in the middle and refuses to drag defenders away, those gaps never appear.
Forlan’s criticism isn’t a demolition job. It’s a tactical plea.
With a squad loaded with creative talent, the Uruguayan believes a small shift in Ronaldo’s mentality could unlock the rest of the side. Not a reinvention, just a tweak.
"If he moved a little to the wings, the others could get in and he could be involved," he said. That one adjustment, in his eyes, changes everything. Ronaldo pulls wide, a centre-back follows, and suddenly Portugal’s playmakers can drive into the space he has vacated.
"That's where Portugal falters because they don't explode because everything ends up going to one side, which is actually a funnel. I wouldn't say it's a problem, it's about making him understand. Telling him: 'Move, get out of there so you can do something'.
The image is striking: a funnel, narrowing, all attacks drawn into the same crowded channel, defenders happy to stand their ground as the ball and Ronaldo come to them. Predictable. Manageable. Exactly what elite opponents want.
Roberto Martinez now stands in the middle of that tactical tension. He has a captain who remains a ruthless finisher and a towering figure in the dressing room, but also a 39-year-old forward whose game has been refined down to the purest version of penalty-box football. Portugal have already seen that Ronaldo can still find the net, yet the “bottleneck” Forlan describes looms large against the best.
As the knockout rounds approach, the stakes rise with every minute Ronaldo spends as a static reference point. Portugal have navigated their way into the round of 32 and will face Croatia next, a side more than capable of suffocating a one-dimensional attack.
The question now is brutally simple. In the autumn of his career, with five Ballon d'Or awards behind him and nothing left to prove individually, is Cristiano Ronaldo willing to move a few yards wider, a few yards deeper, to give this Portugal side the space it craves?
Their ceiling at this tournament may depend on his answer.
