Wayne Rooney Causes Stir With Cristiano Ronaldo Analysis at World Cup

Rob is senior football editor at GiveMeSport, with over 15 years experience covering sport in various capacities since graduating from the University of Gloucestershire in 2008 with a degree in journalism.

A childhood obsession for all things football developed into a career writing about the beautiful game, initially producing content for clients including Luton Town Football Club and the PGMOL. His first big interviews were with Premier League referees Howard Webb and Michael Oliver in 2009.

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A clip of Wayne Rooney’s analysis of Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance during Portugal’s 2026 World Cup opening match against DR Congo has caused a stir on social media.

Portugal were expected to breeze past DR Congo, who were given a 0.09% chance of winning this summer’s tournament by Opta’s Supercomputer, but Roberto Martinez’s side were left frustrated by their unfancied opponents at the Houston Stadium.

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Joao Neves put Portugal 1-0 up in the 6th minute with a fine header, only for Newcastle United’s Yoane Wissa to equalise on the stoke of half-time.

Ronaldo, who turned 41 in February, played the full 90 minutes but struggled to make an impact.

He spurned a couple of chances to score and has now gone 10 consecutive major tournament games without netting for Portugal.

Thierry Henry has been receiving praise for his analysis on Cristiano Ronaldo's struggles for Portugal.

Rooney joked that his former Manchester United teammate will “have been raging” after watching his long-term rival Lionel Messi score a hat-trick for Argentina in his first appearance of the 2026 World Cup.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner equalised Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 16 World Cup goals in the process.

Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe scored two goals in France’s opening match, and Erling Haaland also netted a brace for Norway.

While Ronaldo has received heavy criticism for his underwhelming performance against DR Congo, Rooney jumped to the veteran forward’s defence with his half-time analysis.

Rooney highlighted how Ronaldo’s mere presence posed problems for DR Congo’s defence and helped to contribute towards Portugal’s goal.

“What Ronaldo’s doing is he’s taking that option away from defenders,” Rooney explained. “He’s standing behind them, then they’re looking over their shoulders, like ‘where is he?’, then they drop and then it creates a lot of space in front of the back four - it’s really clever.” Watch the clip below:

Rooney’s analysis has split opinion. Some football fans expressed their disbelief, with one commenting on X (Twitter): "Yeah, Wayne Rooney probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about."

Another said: "I nearly volleyed my tele listening to this,” while a third added:

"Haha. That goal was all because of the genius of Ronaldo standing still in the box."

A fourth fan said: "Who is he kidding? Ronaldo was a joke."

However, others felt that Rooney made a salient point. One person commented: "Someone needs to state facts while the clowns are pushing their agendas, glad it's Wazza!"

Another wrote: "Because Rooney understands football, unlike 99.99% of football fans,” while someone else commented:

​​​​​​​"He’s spot on? Nothing wrong with any of this."