Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo knows his team must find a way to stop the “juggernaut” that is Cristiano Ronaldo.
Lorenzo’s team made it two wins from two in Group K as they beat DR Congo 1-0 to secure their place in the World Cup knockout stage.
They next take on Ronaldo’s Portugal, with top spot in the group up for grabs.
A draw would be enough to see Colombia through as group winners, but with Ronaldo having scored twice in Portugal’s 5-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan, Lorenzo knows the scale of the task facing his team.
“Cristiano is an amazing player, he is one of the best players in the world, a juggernaut,” Lorenzo said.
“You have to be careful not to leave him alone when he’s close to the area.
Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the first player ever to score at six FIFA World Cups. pic.twitter.com/n6hEbXemaG
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) June 23, 2026
“It’s not just Ronaldo but the entire team. We are going to face a huge team. They [Portugal] are candidates to win the World Cup.
“So it will be a huge challenge, and we are going to have to use different tools so that we can try to win.”
Ronaldo’s goals made him Portugal’s record scorer at the finals, as well as the first man to net at six different World Cups.
The 41-year-old will be looking to score in successive matches at the World Cup for the first time since MD2 in 2018 – only Norway’s Erling Haaland (2.7) and Canada’s Jonathan David (2.4) had a higher non-penalty xG than his 2.1 following the opening two games.
Opta’s predictive model finds it hard to split Portugal and Colombia, handing both of them a 50% chance of winning Group K going into MD3.
