• ‘I’m here, I’m fighting, I’m trying to do my best’ • ‘I’m here body and soul to help the national team’

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Portugal’s captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, has said after their last-gasp draw against USA he is giving his all to the team but revealed he never anticipated he would be lifting the World Cup this summer.

The Real Mardrid forward had been labelled as Portugal’s big hope heading into the finals but a long-standing knee injury has meant his contribution in the first two Group G fixtures has been curtailed. They play Ghana on Thursday in their final group game.

“I’m here, I’m fighting, I’m trying to do my best, I’m running, and obviously it’s no use talking about my issues,” he said.

“I don’t want to justify myself by talking about my physical problems, that’s water under the bridge.

“Every day there’s something new in the papers about my knee, and about this and that. That’s why I don’t want to justify myself. I’m here body and soul to help the national team.”

Whilst other teams tipped for success in Brazil have a stand-out player, none are as seemingly reliant on that individual performing as Portugal but Ronaldo believes their World Cup chances were always slim.

“Maybe we’re an average team,” he added. “It would be a lie to say that we are a top team. We have a very limited team and we are not at the best level. This does not enable you to beat top teams.

“There are no miracles. We knew we would have a tough group, with perhaps teams better than us. I never thought we could be world champions, we have to be humble and know our level.

“I’m not a hypocrite, I never thought we could win the tournament.”