Cristiano Ronaldo‘s former international team-mate Ricardo Quaresma believes Portugal will cope with the intense pressure at the World Cup to take their record goalscorer to glory.
Despite qualifying top of their group for this year’s tournament, Portugal will still be heavily reliant on Ronaldo, 41, to inspire them to victory at his sixth finals having being knocked out in the quarter-finals by Morocco at Qatar 2022.
Quaresma, who was speaking at Puma’s 2026 FIFA World Cup kit launch, however highlighted the importance of Portugal’s recent trophy success and how it will be pivotal to potentially seeing Ronaldo lifting the trophy in the summer.
‘They won the Nations League, so that’s what I’m saying. We have more will to win because Cristiano (Ronaldo) is there.
‘It’s his last World Cup and they want Cristiano to win that title.
‘The expectation is high, it’s very high, because they have quality for that, because if they didn’t have it, we wouldn’t have had that whole expectation.’
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating Portugal’s Euro 2016 triumph with Ricardo Quaresma
The former Portugal winger believes that Portugal have the will to achieve World Cup glory
Portugal’s kit’s were part of 11 launched by Puma ahead of the 2026 World Cup
The former winger, who won Euro 2016 with Ronaldo, also reflected on his time playing for Portugal and what it could do for the next generation of Portuguese players to win the World Cup.
‘I am very proud to see the players who played with me win such an important title for our country. I think it is the dream of all of us to win a World Cup.
‘We have already won a European title and now to win a World Cup (is the goal).
‘I think it is the cherry on top of the cake because we always dreamed of it, but we never got it. And the reality is that in this team, this generation has given a lot of hope to our country.’
Quaresma was taking part in the Puma’s New York unveiling of 11 national World Cup kit’s alongside fellow former footballer’s El-Hadji Diouf and Asamoah Gyan.
