Roberto Martinez has no worries about pitching 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo into his second away match in the space of 72 hours when Portugal face Scotland at Hampden on Tuesday.
The Al-Nassr forward scored his 133rd international goal in Saturday evening’s 3-1 Nations League win over Poland in Warsaw – a match in which he played just over an hour.
Despite Ronaldo being less than four months shy of his 40th birthday, Martinez is comfortable with unleashing him for what will be the first Hampden outing of his distinguished career.
“I think the age of a player doesn’t come into play,” said Portugal boss Martinez. “Ronaldo doesn’t work as a 39-year-old player. He doesn’t play certainly as a 39-year-old player. I think we are assessing every player and how they feel. Cristiano has been working really well in this camp.
“I have no doubt that Cristiano after 60 minutes (on Saturday) can be involved in the second game. I don’t know if he can start or if he can finish the game, but he can certainly be involved as he showed in the last camp (when starting the first game and then coming on in the second).”
Instead of training at Hampden on Monday, Portugal used St Mirren’s ground in Paisley for their pre-match preparations, a move arranged as Martinez knows Saints’ chief executive Keith Lasley from their time together as Motherwell players in the 2001-02 season.
It led to hundreds of people descending on the SMiSA Stadium eager to get a glimpse of Ronaldo.
Asked about managing a group featuring one of the game’s most iconic figures, Martinez said: “Well, obviously there are two aspects. I manage the Cristiano Ronaldo that is trying to work hard to help the team to win tomorrow.
“When you arrive in a stadium, in a place like this, I think you get to know the iconic figure and the career of a player that is unique.
“There is not another player with more than 200 caps at international level as an example, the number of goals that he’s scored, the trophies that he’s achieved.
“So I think for me it’s very easy to manage a player that can help the team to win tomorrow. All the rest is something for all of us to enjoy because it’s a unique case and I think we can all learn from being close to him.”
A Portugal win would mean Scotland – with just one victory in their last 15 matches – have lost five in a row for the first time in their history, but Martinez has no doubt that Steve Clarke can turn things round in the longer term.
“Absolutely, I have no doubts,” he said. “It is a difficult press conference for me to show sympathy when tomorrow I want to win the game. But Steve Clarke is building something very special.
“He already achieved a very successful team, qualified for the European Championship, and now it feels that it is almost a new cycle. And the results will come if the performances stay at this level.”
