Portugal's coach slams doubts: defends Cristiano's Euro fitness with a brutal response
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00:00Good evening coach. He's a legend, considered by millions as the greatest of all time and of course he adds the element of experience to the team.
00:12But at his age right now, do you think using Cristiano Ronaldo as a starter for a 90 minute during the whole tournament is very effective or there is another way in your mind to use him in the coming games?
00:27Can I ask you something? Do you know how many minutes Cristiano played last season?
00:33He almost played every game with Al Nasser.
00:35Then you're answering your question.
00:37Can I just make it quick? But don't you think the intensity of the game in Saudi Arabia is a little bit lower than here in the Euros?
00:47Like the need to press the goalkeeper, the defenders. He doesn't do that kind of extra work in Saudi Arabia and he doesn't need to.
00:57But here it's such a very intense competition, fierce one and it's a very hard game with the atmosphere of Turkish fans. What do you think?
01:07I think when you're talking about atmosphere, it's experience, it's how you handle big occasions.
01:13I don't think there is another player in world football that has had six European championships.
01:18So I think what's important is to understand what a player brings.
01:23For us, Cristiano brings experience, brings the know-how, brings the goal scoring opportunities, the movement in the box, the opportunity to opening space.
01:34And then if you want to analyse the stats in terms of the physical, all you need to look at is what he's done in the last 12 months.
01:39Cristiano is in the national team of Portugal because he deserves to be. He scored 51 goals in 50 games and all the physical stats just back that he can play every four days.
01:49So I think you can get your own notes there.