Roy Keane has come to the defence of Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portugal captain delivered a stunning first-half brace against Uzbekistan at FIFA World Cup 2026 — becoming the first player in history to score at six separate World Cup tournaments.

The achievement arrived one day after Lionel Messi set a record of his own, and ITV's pundits, including Keane, gathered at half-time to assess what they had witnessed.

Keane: "Why would you ever doubt him?"

Keane was unequivocal in his admiration. "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," he said. "Why would you ever doubt him? The guy's an amazing, amazing player; his stats are fantastic."

Keane also noted the visible emotion on Ronaldo's face after scoring. "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."

The free-kick that Ronaldo left alone

Portugal were also awarded a free-kick during the half — one that could have given Ronaldo a shot at an extraordinarily rare World Cup hat-trick. It was Nuno Mendes who stepped up instead, and Keane believed Ronaldo made a calculated decision to step aside.

"Everybody would be expecting Ronaldo to take this," Keane 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."

Keane also offered a frank assessment of the opposing goalkeeper. "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."