The clock was about to hit 83 minutes when Roberto Martínez rolled the dice one last time. His team certainly needed extra movement up front so it hardly confounded logic that Gonçalo Ramos was stripped and ready. What made less sense was that Vitinha departed while Cristiano Ronaldo, peripheral save for two earlier half-chances, remained on and slogged his way towards the end of a draw that could check Portugal’s summer ambitions.
Ronaldo’s baying followers, swathes of them with local accents and wearing his No 7 shirt, had done their best to cajole a meaningful contribution from their idol but ultimately they had to settle for being under the same roof. Perhaps they expected a repeat of Lionel Messi’s staggering performance the previous night but Ronaldo did little to assuage concerns that his presence, once glorious, is nowadays a dead weight. The watching Gianni Infantino could have been forgiven for wondering whether Fifa’s contortions in freeing him from suspension for this game had been worthwhile.
