Portugal cruised through qualifying to reach Euro 2024 despite concerns over manager Roberto Martinez, and questions over Cristiano Ronaldo‘s future in the team.

The country turned to Martinez following their quarter-final exit at last year’s World Cup in Qatar.

They crashed out of the tournament to Morocco in a game where Ronaldo only came off the bench, after prior manager Fernando Santos decided to drop the Portuguese icon from the starting XI after the group stage.

Martinez was appointed in January and local outlet A Bola revealed that in a poll, 75 per cent of Portuguese fans were against his appointment.

The Spaniard was often blamed for Belgium’s golden generation – consisting of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku – failing to win a trophy or reach a major final during his six years in charge.

Martinez though has inherited a team whose morale was shot after the loss to Morocco and has turned their fortunes around with a 100 per cent record in qualifying to reach Euro 2024. While Ronaldo scored ten goals to reestablish his position in the Portuguese team at the age of 38.

Portugal qualified for next summer’s tournament in Germany with a 100 per cent record

Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes has been influential in Portugal’s success

Ronaldo, following his exit from European football to Saudi Arabia and his struggles at the World Cup, was supposed to be a player in decline.

But contrary to what many would have expected, he has struck up a good relationship with Martinez and scored in six of the nine games that he featured in the qualifiers – including four braces.

It has taken his scoring record to a staggering 128 goals in 205 games and despite making his senior international debut two decades ago – Martinez believes he is still as hungry as ever.

As per AS Sport he said: ‘It is difficult for me to explain how a player who is 38 years old and has more caps than any other player in the world has the hunger of an 18-year-old player.

‘This is a force that infects others in the locker room. A player who always tries to be in the correct position, who likes to score, but who has a lot of collective discipline. He is an example in the locker room, it is fantastic to have a player with his experience.’

What would have helped is that the pair held talks after Martinez’s appointment in January, and the Spaniard later said that it had been easy to include Ronaldo in his plans.

After losing his place for Portugal under Fernando Santos at the World Cup, Martinez has helped Ronaldo return to form, with early discussions giving the legendary star confidence

Fernandes meanwhile has been described as the Portugal team’s ‘commander-in-chief’

Portugal have an impressive attacking team which also boasts the likes of Joao Felix (bottom) and Diogo Jota (right)

Martinez took regular Portuguese classes after his appointment and has brought on a strong team off-the-pitch, with former Chelsea star Ricardo Carvalho working as his assistant