The Man Utd superstar will most likely play his last World Cup in Qatar.
Bernardo Silva believes it’s natural for Portugal to form their tactics around Cristiano Ronaldo at the World Cup.
Ronaldo has found a difficult start to the season at Manchester United. But back in Portugal, he’s still the main striker at Fernando Santos’ disposal ahead of the Qatar tournament.
As Ronaldo and co prepare for their World Cup opener against Ghana, Silva insists CR7 could be a “powerful weapon” for the Euro 2016 winners.
“The reality is when you’ve got a player like Cristiano, it’s natural that sometimes you play for him because he can win you the game in the final minutes,” the Manchester City star told FIFA.
“The same goes for other countries. It’s natural, for example, that France always look to [Kylian] Mbappe because he can decide a match at any time. Brazil have Neymar and with Argentina it’s Lionel Messi.
“When you have these kinds of players on your side, you have to take advantage of them, although I agree you can’t become overdependent on them as this can disrupt the team dynamics. But, if we get it right, having Cristiano in our team will be a powerful weapon.”
Portugal will kick off their World Cup campaign with a match against Ghana next Thursday. They will then meet Uruguay and South Korea in their next group-stage clashes.