By MICHAEL PAVITT, SPORTS REPORTER Published: 12:21 BST, 28 June 2026 | Updated: 14:40 BST, 28 June 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo replaced a special edition pair of Nike boots at half-time of Portugal’s World Cup group stage clash with Colombia as the forward looked to break the deadlock in the match.Nike had gifted Ronaldo a limited edition pair of boots, the ‘Nike Mercurial Superfly 11 Gold Scorpion’, prior to Portugal’s final group match.The boots, which feature Ronaldo’s ‘CR7’ logo, were given to the Portuguese legend to mark his achievement of being the first player to score in six World Cup matches.Ronaldo had achieved the landmark by scoring twice in Portugal’s 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan last week.Nike will create 2,026 pairs of the £242 boots, referencing the year of this summer’s World Cup. Ronaldo, who had trained with the new boots in the build-up to the match with Colombia, was seen sporting the footwear during the first half against the South Americans on Saturday. Cristiano Ronaldo wore special edition gold boots in the first half against Colombia on Saturday The Nike boots were gifted to Ronaldo to mark his achievement of becoming the first player to score in six different World Cups Ronaldo, however, ditched the boots at half-time and returned to wearing a pink pairThe Portugal captain attempted three shots in the first half, with Ronaldo seeing a free-kick saved, an overhead kick and another effort blocked as the two teams went into the break goalless.Ronaldo returned for the second half without the gold boots, with the forward instead opting to switch back to the pink boots that he and a large number of players have worn throughout the World Cup to date.The switch did not lead to an upturn in fortunes with the 41-year-old failing to have another shot on goal in the second half.Portugal were ultimately held to a goalless draw by Colombia, which proved only enough to advance to the last-32 as group runners-up.It remains to be seen whether Ronaldo will wear the special edition boots again in the knock-out stages of the competition, where Portugal now face a more daunting path.Roberto Martinez’s side will face Croatia in the last-32 of the competition, with the potential for a last-16 meeting against their Iberian neighbours Spain.Martinez claimed post-match that his team ‘needed’ the high intensity match against Colombia, which he…
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2026-06-28 14:40:46
