Ten games. Thirty-three shots. Eleven on target. Zero goals.
Those are the numbers defining Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent major tournament career, and they tell a story that’s getting harder to spin as anything other than a prolonged slump from one of football’s all-time greats.
The streak now stretches back to a penalty against Ghana at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That single goal, more than three years ago, remains his last in a major international tournament. Everything since, across the 2022 World Cup knockout rounds, Euro 2024, and now the opening stages of the 2026 World Cup, has produced nothing but near-misses and mounting questions.
What’s actually happening on the pitch
Portugal’s opening 2026 World Cup match against DR Congo, which ended 1-1, offered the clearest recent snapshot of the problem.
