Ronaldo Suffers Humiliation with 'Zero Shots on Target' in Shock Draw

[Anchor]

Portugal, considered a top contender for the title, has suffered a blow to its pride after a 1-1 draw against the underdog Democratic Republic of the Congo. Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, playing in his first match of his sixth World Cup, failed to record a single shot on target, feeling the weight of the passing years.

Bae Jeonghun reports.

[Reporter]

The day after his rival Lionel Messi of Argentina thrilled global football fans with a hat-trick, 41-year-old Ronaldo captained Portugal and set the record for the oldest outfield player to start in a World Cup match, marking the beginning of his sixth tournament.

However, once the match began, he lost his presence on the pitch.

He struggled to break through the opponent's defense and failed to record a single shot throughout the entire first half.

He finally attempted his first shot in the 23rd minute of the second half, and while he managed three attempts in total, all of them missed the target.

With Ronaldo remaining silent and failing to register a single shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, Portugal took the lead with a header from Neves in the 6th minute of the first half, but conceded an equalizer to Wissa of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during first-half stoppage time, ending the match in a 1-1 draw.

As global media outlets highlighted Ronaldo's poor performance, Portugal's head coach Roberto Martinez did not waver in his trust for the player.

[Martinez/Portugal National Team Head Coach: It makes no sense to take off the greatest goalscorer in the history of world football (Ronaldo) in a game where we need a goal.]

After the match, Ronaldo wrote on his social media, "It is not the start we wanted, but it is by no means over," adding, "We will keep our heads up and focus on the next match."

(Video Editing: Park Ji-in, Graphics: Kim Ye-ji, Jang Chae-woo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.