Ronaldo does little to boost team spirit

PORTUGAL v GHANA

Tomorrow, 1pm.

Cristiano Ronaldo would be hard pushed to pick a worse time to air what he believes are some home truths regarding the quality of the Portugal squad.

On the eve of their crunch match against Ghana, which Portugal must win and hope Germany beat USA convincingly in order to qualify, the Real Madrid star said his nation’s team was ‘average’, ‘limited’ and ‘not at the best level’.

The winger has been struggling with a knee injury throughout the tournamant, a hangover from a frantic end of the season with Real.

And the Ballon D’Or winner has produced only flashes of his ability during the two matches so far.

But his comments may be the most damaging thing to his team-mates’ confidence going into the final group game.

He said: “Maybe we are an average team. It would be a lie to say that we are a top team. We have a very limited team and we are not at the best level. 

“This does not enable you to beat top teams. There are no miracles. We knew we would have a tough group, with perhaps teams better than us. 

“I am not a hypocrite — I never thought we could be world champions, we have to be humble and know our level.”

He added: “I’m here, I’m fighting, I’m trying to do my best, I’m running and obviously it’s no use talking about my issues.

“I don’t want to justify myself by talking about my physical problems, that’s water under the bridge. Every day there’s something new in the papers about my knee and about this and that. 

“That’s why I don’t want to justify myself. I’m here in body and soul to help the national team.”