Not seen in more than 6,000 days: zero minutes for Cristiano Ronaldo with Portugal

Portugal beat Norway in the second round of Nations League matches without Cristiano Ronaldo spending a single minute on the pitch. The last time CR7 started on the bench for the Portuguese national team was September 2024. At that time, the former Real Madrid striker came on as a substitute and scored the 2-1 winning goal against Scotland.

In 234 matches with Portugal, the latest one against Norway is the 8th started from the bench for the 41-year-old. The latest stat is truly rare. The last time Ronaldo stayed on the bench for an entire Portugal match dates back 18 years. Since then, 6,679 days have passed. It was June 15, 2008, and it was a European Championship match. In that match Portugal lost 2-0 to Switzerland but had already qualified for the next round.

This stat covers official matches. If friendlies are included, the Al Nassr striker also stayed 90 minutes on the bench in June 2024, during the friendly between Portugal and Croatia.