How has Cristiano Ronaldo performed in World Cups?

The Portuguese superstar will be playing his fifth World Cup in Qatar later this year...

Cristiano Ronaldo has won most of the coveted trophies in world football. From winning multiple UEFA Champions League titles to bagging the Euro Cup with Portugal in 2016, the forward has a decorated trophy cabinet. However, his quest to win the biggest prize of them all, the World Cup, continues.

Ronaldo has participated in every edition of the marquee tournament since 2006 and will be playing in his fifth World Cup in Qatar which is set to kick off on November 21, 2022. He made his tournament debut against Angola on June 11, 2006. In the next match against Iran, he went to score from the spot in a 2-0 win. With that goal, he became the youngest Portuguese to score in a World Cup at just 21 years and 132 days.

In the Round of 16, Portugal faced Netherlands. However, Ronaldo's participation was cut short as he was writhing in pain after a nasty tackle by Khalid Boulahrouz. Fortunately, he recovered in time and went on to play an important role against England in the quarterfinals. In that match, he was seen urging the referee to show a red card to Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney after the English international stamped on Ricardo Carvalho. Following the send-off, he was seen winking at the Portugal bench which drew immense criticism. However, he delivered with his last spot-kick in the tiebreakers to propel the Navigators to the semifinal. Portugal lost the final two matches to France and Germany to finish fourth in the World Cup.

In 2010, Portugal crashed out in the Round of 16 after falling to Spain. Ronaldo was in brilliant form in the group stages and was named man of the match against Ivory Coast, North Korea, and Brazil. He scored and assisted once against North Korea while putting in impressive shifts in the other two matches.

Ronaldo arrived in Brazil with a patellar tendinitis injury. He was not 100 per cent and yet he took to the field. But he could not help his side from falling to a 4-0 defeat against Germany. In the next match against United States, he provided an assist in injury time to draw 2-2, whereas in the final match, he scored a late winner to overcome Ghana. That was his 50th international goal but that did not prevent Portugal from crashing out of the group stages on goal difference.

In 2018, Ronaldo single-handedly snatched two points from Spain as he scored a hat-trick in the first match of the group stage. With his three goals, he became the oldest player in World Cup history to score thrice in a match. In the next match, he scored once again to bag the three points against Morocco to become the highest European goalscorer of all time overtaking Ferenc Puskas' record. However, in the next match against Iran, he missed a penalty which saw Portugal draw 1-1. Portugal bowed out of the tournament after losing 2-1 to Uruguay in the Round of 16. Despite a relatively early exit, he was named in the Fan Dream Team by FIFA.