Cristiano Ronaldo is named in the WORST team of the World Cup group stage

Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo has been named in the worst team in the group stage, along with four players from Qatar.

Ronaldo, 37, started every game for Portugal in their successful group stage campaign but struggled to make an impact, scoring just once and generally looking anonymous for long stretches.

Announcing his worst side of the World Cup knockout phase, SofaScore put Ronaldo in front with an average rating of 6.37 over his three matches.

Cristiano Ronaldo suffered a poor start in all three matches of the tournament and has suffered the ignominy of being named among the worst performing eleven stars.

He looked like a frustrated figure for much of his time on the Portugal pitch, growing increasingly frustrated with his teammates for not pushing the ball to him more. His misery was compounded Friday when he ducked into a corner, allowing the ball to drift off his back and into the path of a grateful Kim Young-Gwon to shoot home.

SofaScore’s own clarification is that only players who had played 60 per cent of the minutes in the group stage were eligible, though that remains an unwanted gong for a player whose top media confidante, Piers Morgan, stated that he was playing for a pass to a ‘Champions League Club’ in Qatar.

It comes as Sportsmail’s Oliver Holt told World Cup Confidential that Portugal can win their first World Cup crown in Qatar, but only if they drop the high-profile star.

SofaScore’s worst group stage XI saw Ronaldo take his place alongside four Qatari players

Meshaal Barsham, who came on after the first game, had poor performances against Senegal and the Netherlands, conceding five goals.

In the rest of the team, Meshaal Barsham, who replaced Saad Al-Sheeb after Qatar’s first game with Ecuador, was the lowest-rated goalkeeper, averaging 6.10 in his two appearances, in which he conceded five goals.

Meanwhile, thanks in no small part to conceding seven goals in their opener against Spain, the two centre-backs hail from Costa Rica with Francisco Calvo and Oscar Duarte forming the pairing in the middle.

They achieved average ratings of 6.25 and 6.30, respectively, such was the nature of their poor performance against the 2010 world champions.

Francisco Calvo endured a display of horror at the hands of Spain: he conceded seven goals

At left-back, Homam Ahmed has an average rating of 6.23. Alistair Johnston, one of two players from Canada who had the ignominy to make the team, plays with a three-time average overall grade of 6.40.

Forming a 4-4-2 formation, Abdulelah Al-Malki and Karim Boudiaf make up the central midfield pairing, hailing from Saudi Arabia and Qatar respectively. Al-Malki was the third lowest scoring player on the team, at 6.15. Boudiaf, according to SofaScore, was not much better, only getting an average mark of 6.30.

Tajon Buchanan, who looked brilliant in spells for Canada and could be considered unlucky to have been scored so poorly, rounds out on the left as the lowest ranked player next to goaltender with an average rating of 6.10.

Saudi Arabia midfielder Abdulelah Al-Malki was among the worst players on the team.

Almoez Ali joined Ronaldo up front after a series of clumsy performances for the hosts.

The right-hand side, quite surprising given his decisive effort against Denmark, is Australia’s Mathew Leckie, who clocked in 6.33. The Australian, along with Ronaldo, is the only player on the team that will play in the round of 16.

Ronaldo’s partner up front completes the Qatari quad, with Almoez Ali receiving the unfortunate spot having been awarded a good 6.23 in his 226 minutes.

Meanwhile, Bruno Fernandes, an international and former teammate of Ronaldo’s, leads the group stage team, having posted an average rating of 8.60. His two goals and two assists so far have established him as one of the frontrunners for the player of the tournament award.

Joining him in the forward areas is Antoine Griezmann, who is enjoying a tournament renaissance, as well as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and young Dutch star Cody Gakpo.

Casemiro is the only central midfielder, while the defense consists of Theo Hernández, Andreas Christensen, Cameroonian defender Jean-Charles Castelletto and Moroccan Achraf Hakimi.

Wojciech Szczesny, rewarded for his notable penalty against Messi on Wednesday, is named in goal.

In stark contrast, Bruno Fernandes was named the best player of the group stage.