Luis Figo, one of Portugal’s greatest players, believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s team-mates will have to do more to help the world’s most expensive player sparkle at Euro 2012 after a disappointing defeat to Germany.

Ronaldo rarely made an impact in the game but Figo said he did not deserve criticism for the display.

“I think the team need to give him the chances to have a good performance,” Figo, 39, said at the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Lisbon yesterday.

“The characteristic of Cristiano is to finish, to score, so if the team don’t produce those kind of opportunities then of course his performance is down.”

Figo said his country could now afford no more slip-ups in Group B.

The Portuguese play Denmark on Wednesday with the Danes having stunned the Dutch with a 1-0 win – a defeat for Portugal and Germany winning their game would see the Portuguese eliminated.

“We have to improve. Portugal were not so efficient in the opportunities we had. We don’t have time for any more mistakes – we have to win the next two games,” Figo said.

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