Cristiano Ronaldo is going through one of the most difficult and unusual periods of his professional career. A hamstring injury has kept him off the field for the past two weeks, and his upcoming matches against Al Nasr and the Portuguese national team are also in doubt.
He missed the matches against NEOM SC and Al Khaleej, and luckily the team achieved important wins with scores of 1-0 and 0-5 respectively, but it is doubtful whether Portugal will be able to play in the last two matches before the World Cup, and this could have a huge financial impact.
Without CR7, Portugal will lose out on a huge bonus.
Cristiano is currently in Spain, having traveled to Madrid to treat a hamstring injury after being substituted in Al Nasr’s last match against Al Faiha (3-1).
According to various reports, the recovery period is expected to be three to four weeks, and it is expected that he will be able to return to the field around April 3rd and be able to directly participate in the match against Al Najma SC.
As a result, the 41-year-old Portuguese player could miss the only games he will play with his national team before his sixth and final World Cup, against Mexico on March 28 at Estadio Banorte and against the USMNT on March 31 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, due to injury.
These two absences not only pose a problem for the Portuguese coach, who will not be able to take a final test with his captain on the field, and for Portugal’s star players, who will not have time to prepare for football’s biggest event, but also economic factors.
In fact, the Portuguese federation risks losing 20% of its bonus, which is worth around 1 million euros, if Cristiano does not play in the games against the United States and Mexico, sports outlet Correio da Man reported via Record.
Personally, injuries temporarily halted his quest to reach 1,000 official career goals, leaving him with 965 career goals.
With 88 days until the start of the World Cup, only time will tell when Portugal’s star will be back on the field.
