Cristiano Ronaldo fans harass his Portugal teammates online

Cristiano Ronaldo is goalless at the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup.

Now, Portugal has only played one group stage match — coming away with a 1-1 draw against Congo DR on Wednesday — but after Argentina’s Lionel Messi notched a hat trick and France’s Kylian Mbappe, and Norway’s Erling Haaland each scored a brace, all eyes were on Ronaldo to rise to the occasion and put on an all-time show as well.

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That did not happen.

Instead, Ronaldo’s performance raised questions about whether 41-year-old Ronaldo is actually holding back an extremely talented Portugal roster. He is one of the best scorers the sport has ever seen, but he has not scored a goal in the past 10 major tournament games for Portugal, per ESPN.

Ronaldo reacted calmly, posted on X, “It wasn’t the start we wanted, but this is far from over. Head up and focus on the next game.”

His fans, or accounts claiming to be his fans anyway, are not handling the slow start with as much grace.

Manchester United captain and Portugal star Bruno Fernandes and his wife, Ana Pinho, had their most recent Instagram posts flooded with comments pertaining to Ronaldo.

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“It’s not just Bruno Fernandes, but the Instagram posts of several Portugal players are being FLOODED by Cristiano Ronaldo fans demanding that they pass him the ball and ‘respect CR7,'” The Touchline relayed.

Under Pinho’s Instagram carousel from six days ago, one account commented, “Since Portugal was founded, no footballer like Ronaldo has ever made the country famous and respected around the world. But your boyfriend, who has never even made it into a FIFA squad, hates Ronaldo.”

Another wrote, “Tell Bruno to show their respect for the best man in the history of Portugal and the best player in the history of football.”

And yet another wrote, “Can you please tell your man to pass the ball to Cristiano?”

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There are countless more comments under Fernandes’ Instagram post from three days ago.

For the sake of humanity, I hope and pray these are just bots.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, posted a team photo from training to his Instagram about an hour ago with the caption, “Sempre Unidos!”

This week, Messi and Ronaldo became the first men to appear in six World Cups in the tournament’s history. But Ronaldo has not performed to Messi’s level individually at the World Cup, as he has eight goals across six tournaments, and Messi’s 16 are tied with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the most in men’s World Cup history.

And while Messi and Argentina are actively defending their World Cup title, Portugal have never won. Portugal reached the quarterfinal before falling to Morocco at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

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Portugal will have a chance to turn the tides against Uzbekistan at NRG Stadium in Houston on Tuesday, June 23. Seleção das Quinas will wrap up Group X play against Colombia at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Saturday, June 27.

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