Thierry Henry hits out at Cristiano Ronaldo after 'embarrassingly weak' observation

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Thierry Henry has criticised Cristiano Ronaldo for putting himself before the Portugal team. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid superstar has come under fire following his woeful performance in the shock draw with DR Congo in their World Cup opener.

Ronaldo, taking part in a record-equalling sixth World Cup, wasted two chances to win the game and looked a pale shadow of his former self. Despite his ineffective display, the 41-year-old played the entire match, prompting stinging criticism of manager Roberto Martinez from former Premier League striker Chris Sutton, who posted on X: "Embarrassingly weak from Roberto Martinez.

"He should have hooked Ronaldo off but he's too scared of upsetting him. Ronaldo is essentially the manager of Portugal. Well played DR Congo … deserved the point."

Meanwhile, Henry accused Ronaldo of putting his desire to score before the needs of the team. Speaking on Fox Sports, the France legend highlighted one particular moment where he appeared to get in the way of teammate Bruno Fernandes .

He said: "The team needs to score, not you need to score. Because he wants to score, he goes into the path of Bruno Fernandes.

"If he goes into the six-yard box, you've been in that situation, Alexi [Lalas, fellow pundit], you would have had to follow him. Then it would have been a tap-in for Bruno Fernandes."

On another incident, he added: "Because he wants to score, he goes in the path of the backpass. You see both players and it's easier for you to defend. And that's my thing, the team needs to score, not you."

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Meanwhile, Joe Cole has called for Ronaldo to be used more sparingly by Martinez. Speaking on the Rest is Football show, he asked: "What benefit is he going to be trying to play every minute of every game for eight matches? He needs to be used sparingly. The manager's got to be strong enough [to drop him]."

The 1-1 draw with Congo has heaped pressure on Portugal and Martinez ahead of their remaining Group K matches against Uzbekistan and Colombia . Martinez said: "We started the match very well. Scoring should have been a great moment, but it wasn't.

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"I think we lost a bit of our attacking depth, lost fluency in possession, and allowed them to regain their shape somewhat. The confidence they gained after the goal made the game very difficult, but that’s what happens at World Cups."

Portugal face Uzbekistan on Tuesday before a tough group finale against Colombia, who beat Uzbekistan 3-1, on June 28.