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Roy Keane has had his say on Cristiano Ronaldo's first half against Uzbekistan.
The Portugal talisman officially arrived at World Cup 2026 a week late to net two first-half goals and snatch a record for scoring at six editions of the tournament , with ITV pundits discussing the first 45 minutes at half-time.
And with Ronaldo the centre of attention, following Lionel Messi heroics yesterday , former team-mate Keane has spoken about Ronaldo's first-half performance.
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Roy Keane on Cristiano Ronaldo: “Why would you ever doubt him?”
“It is amazing: Messi becomes the man with the most goals in a World Cup, and Ronaldo now becomes the first man to score in six World Cups,” Keane began.
“Why would you ever doubt him? The guy's an amazing, amazing player; his stats are fantastic.
“There are no surprises here: no surprises that he would turn up today. If you give him some good delivery and he hangs around there long enough, it's a brilliant finish. Obviously, he has that immense confidence, and it's amazing what he's done in the game of football over the last 20-odd years, but you can still see the relief from him there. It tells you how much he cares about the game.”
Ronaldo might have taken a free-kick, too, to complete a second-ever World Cup hat-trick – but for Nuno Mendes taking the shot on himself – and Keane reckoned that it was all a ploy from the man himself.
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“Yeah, well, everybody would be expecting Ronaldo to take this,” the Irishman said. “I think I'm the only one who didn't think he'd be taking it, as it was better suited to a left-footer.
“Ronaldo had already got his goal, obviously. I think if he hadn't scored yet, he'd be thinking, ‘I'm taking this,’ but he leaves it to his team-mates.
“The goalkeeper is obviously on his heels, probably distracted by Ronaldo, but the strike just hits the target with enough pace. Again, it's not great from the goalkeeper. He's blinded himself there.
“Listen, he's obviously not a top-level goalkeeper. The goalkeeping seems not that great, yeah, but listen, Portugal are up and running.”
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