Argentina can thrive without Lionel Messi but Roberto Martinez decision has made it difficult with Cristiano Ronaldo
Argentina and Portugal know they can succeed at the 2026 World Cup this summer without Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
But the reigning champions are capable of coping without Messi, while their European rivals may struggle to drop Ronaldo this summer.
That’s according to European football expert Andy Brassell, who has weighed up both nations’ chances of moving on from two of the greatest goal scorers in the history of football.
The upcoming World Cup will be the last time Messi and Ronaldo will compete at the iconic tournament, which begins in June, for their countries.
Messi cemented his place in history four years ago as he led Argentina to glory in Qatar, putting his team on his back.
But Ronaldo is hoping he can emulate that with Portugal in his last throw of the dice before his impending retirement.
However, with the football legends now 38 and 41 respectively, and playing outside of the world’s biggest leagues, it may be best for them to make way for a new generation to lead them.
And Brassell thinks there is a real possibility that both countries end up using their GOATs a little less this summer.
“They both know they can put out a very good, very effective, very fluent team, without their most famous player ever,” he told talkSPORT.com.
“I think it’s going to take a bit of wit and a bit of bravery to use Ronaldo and Messi in the right way, to get the most out of them, but also get the most out of the team.
“I’m not sitting here saying these guys have become a hindrance, that’s wrong to say that, but I do think there needs to be sensitivity and smarts to the way you’re going to use them.
“Particularly, if the weather conditions are going to be tough.”
Argentine advantage
Brassell also assessed which nation he thinks can cope best without their icon – and it spells good news for the 2022 champions.
He said: “I think Argentina have shown in recent times that they feel more comfortable without Messi than Portugal do without Ronaldo.
“There’s no getting around that there’s politics in both cases, but you look at Lionel Scaloni, he’s earned the right as he’s won the World Cup, so that’s really important.
“I think the issue with Messi is Rodrigo De Paul hasn’t been in incredible form and him enabling Messi to be his ‘bodyguard’, there’s a feeling that the two of them go together.
“It’s not something I think will work for Argentina at this World Cup. They’re harbouring other old players as well, like Nicolas Otamendi.
“But I think it would be less of a discussion at least, especially inside Argentinian football culture, if you’d had the connection between Thiago Almada and Julian Alvarez at Atletico…if those two clicked at club level, that’d be a huge advantage for Argentina.”
Time for Portugal to make a decision
When it comes to Portugal and potential life without Ronaldo, Brassell thinks manager Roberto Martinez hasn’t helped things.
“I feel that Martinez has made Ronaldo and dealing with Ronaldo more of a difficult situation than it should be,” he admitted.
“I think, if he’d have left him out on occasion during the Euros or the qualifying campaign, where, it’s great he’s breaking all these records, but he’s really got nothing to prove.
“That would have made it a little bit easier for him going forward.”
But after not phasing Ronaldo out of his line-up, Martinez seems cornered into starting the legend in every match, and he needs to make a decision that benefits his squad.
“It shouldn’t be the way that Martinez is building,” Brassell said on Portugal potentially building a team around Ronaldo.
“You go back to the last World Cup and the match against Switzerland when Ronaldo wasn’t involved, it was quite an interesting window into what Portugal should be.
“You then fast forward to the qualifiers now, a 9-1 win over Armenia and he’s not involved in that and they absolutely go off.
“And sometimes, it does feel as if – and this is no disrespect to what has been an unbelievable career – but it does feel that Martinez has arrived at a time in Portuguese football where people would understand if he left Ronaldo out.
“Yet, he feels for whatever reason that he can’t for a lot of the time, we really saw that at Euro 2024.”
He added: “The fact is, the team shouldn’t run around him anymore, it really should be Bruno Fernandes‘ team, he’s a real leader.
“But Portugal have the talent to be the champions and I think both them and Argentina have a decision to make.”
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