Newly-appointed Portugal coach Roberto Martinez confirms plans for Ronaldo's future

Spanish football coach Roberto Martinez spoke about his plans for five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, after being appointed as the head coach of the Portugal national football team on Monday. Speaking to the reporters, Martinez insisted that the 37-year-old deserves respect while confirming that the footballer remains to be a part of his plans for the future. This comes after Ronaldo endured a frustrating World Cup, which saw him being benched from the starting lineup in the knockout stage.

Ronaldo didn’t feature in the Portuguese starting lineup during the 6-1 win against Switzerland in the Round of 16. While his replacement Goncalo Ramos scored a hat-trick, the youngster was yet again selected over Ronaldo during the quarter-final loss against Monaco. In both matches, he came onto the field as a second-half substitute.

It was reported that Ronaldo’s relationship with former coach Fernando Santos took a hit during the World Cup. Santos has now been replaced by Martinez in the Portuguese dugout after he left the Belgium national team role last month. As reported by Mirror, speaking to the reporters, Martinez revealed his plans for his new team, including Ronaldo’s role in it.

“He deserves the respect of being able to sit down and talk”

“Football decisions have to be taken on the field of play. I'm not an office decision-making coach. So my starting point is to get to all the players and I want to get in touch with them. The list of 26 players from the World Cup is my starting point and Cristiano is a player on that list, he has been with the national team for 19 years and he deserves the respect of being able to sit down and talk,” Martinez told reporters.

On being asked about what role Ronaldo will play in his team, the Spanish coach provided an evasive answer by saying that he wants to know all players that can join the team. “From here, there are 54 players in the five biggest leagues who are under 28 years old, we have Benfica and FC Porto in the Champions League. In other words, my job is to give every player an opportunity and respect everyone who is already in the national team. From then on, Cristiano Ronaldo is one of them. It is a natural process, work and responsibility and of making important decisions for the team,” he added.