🚨🇵🇹 Luis Nani blasts the Portuguese players for their recent playstyle:
Luis Nani 🗣️: “Sometimes I watch Portugal now and I honestly have to ask myself, what happened? Why are these players suddenly playing with so much personality, so much movement, so much courage? Because when Cristiano was still in that dressing room, I didn’t see this same Portugal.
Now I see players making runs behind the defence, I see Bruno and Vitinha receiving the ball and immediately looking forward. They are playing line-breaking passes, taking risks, moving the ball quickly, trying to hurt the opponent. This is exactly what you want when you have attacking players around you.
But where was this when Cristiano was there? We had the greatest finisher in football history standing in front of them, and somehow the team would become slower, more predictable and more passive. You had a player who could turn half a chance into a goal, and instead of giving him more opportunities, sometimes it looked like they were afraid to play forward.
And now suddenly everybody wants to attack. Suddenly everybody wants to make runs. Suddenly Bruno is playing those passes between the lines, Vitinha is breaking defensive structures, and the full-backs are getting forward. You look at Cancelo too. He hadn’t scored since September last year, and now he has scored two goals in two games. Two! So I have to ask: where was this version of Cancelo when Cristiano was still around?
People can say I’m being emotional because Cristiano is my friend and my former teammate, but I’m talking about what I saw. I was in that dressing room. I know what it feels like to play alongside him. And I also know what it looks like when people are no longer giving everything for someone.
For me, it became obvious that some players didn’t want Cristiano anymore. You could feel it in the way certain things happened, in the way the team played and in the attitude around him. And I’m sorry, but I will never understand that. You can disagree with your captain. You can have different personalities. You can even have arguments. But how can you hate Cristiano Ronaldo?
This is the greatest player Portugal has ever produced. He carried that shirt for almost two decades. He gave everything to the national team, broke records, won trophies and made Portugal believe we could compete with anybody in the world. He didn't just represent Portugal; he helped put Portuguese football on another level globally.
And now that he is not there, some players suddenly look liberated. That is what disappoints me. If you had this freedom, this courage and this attacking mentality all along, then why didn’t you show it when Cristiano was there? Why did you wait until the greatest goalscorer in our history was no longer standing in the box?
I’m not saying Portugal cannot become better without Cristiano. Of course they can. Every generation changes. But don’t rewrite history. Don’t pretend Cristiano was the problem simply because the team now looks different.
If anything, his presence should have made these players want to give even more. You had the best finisher in football history ahead of you. Your job was simple: create chances, play forward and give him the ball. Instead, too often we saw hesitation.
So when I watch Portugal now, I’m happy because I want my country to win. But I also feel frustrated, because I keep thinking about what could have been. Imagine this Portugal playing with this same courage, these same runs, these same forward passes, while Cristiano was still leading the line.
Maybe we would have seen something very special.
And that is the part people need to understand. Cristiano didn’t need Portugal to protect him. Portugal needed to use him properly. When you have a player like that, you don’t make the game smaller for him. You make the game bigger.
For me, the biggest regret is that some of these players only seem to have discovered that after he left.”