Cristiano Ronaldo "benched" for the third time in his career

Last Sunday, Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of the national football team, was involved in a rare occurrence in his international career when he did not take part in Portugal's 2–1 win against Norway.

By Íris Marçal, in News · 28 Sep 2026, 19:03 · 0 Comments

Credits: Facebook; Author: Courtesy of Onefootball;

The forward had only once before spent the whole match on the bench while playing for the national team.

The first time this happened was at the Euro 2008 finals while Luiz Felipe Scolari was in charge of the team; Portugal, who had already qualified, played against Switzerland and suffered a 2–0 defeat.

The second incident took place while Roberto Martínez was in charge, during a Euro 2024 warm-up game against Croatia at the National Stadium in Jamor, and the match ended in a 1–2 defeat.

The record of the Portuguese international also covers his appearance in the 2006 World Cup match against Mexico (a 2–1 victory), in which, although he was in the squad he was not on the bench and not considered as a player to be selected; this was a result of the head coach's decision following the yellow card he had received and the fact that qualification had already been achieved.

Moreover, in all of Cristiano Ronaldo's appearances for his club and at international level, the only time he didn't start was the previous season while he was with Al-Nassr, in their 4–0 win in the Saudi Cup against Jeddah Club, a team that was managed by Jorge Jesus.