Mary Mahy, Media365: Published on Friday, July 5, 2024 at 7:40 pm.
Since the start of the Euros, Cristiano Ronaldo has always started for Portugal. The less decisive star seems to have a special place.
Cristiano Ronaldo remains the undisputed choice. Since the start of Euro 2024, the Portuguese captain has started every match his team has played and is set to return again on Friday evening, at 9:00 p.m., against France, in the quarter-finals. He was only substituted against Georgia, when Portugal had already qualified. But the star has been much less decisive than in the past. In fact, Ronaldo has not scored a goal so far and has only made one small assist in his personal record so far. A gift that was given during the second match in the group, to Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who scored Portugal's third and final goal against Turkey (0-3).
Cristiano Ronaldo was not spared from the press
Despite this, Roberto Martinez continues to trust Cristiano Ronaldo, who necessarily has a more than special status, the best player in the history of his country. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner failed to score a penalty against Slovenia during extra time in the round of 16 on Monday. This caused him to shed a few tears. Cristiano Ronaldo then managed to finish them off by scoring his own shot on goal a few minutes later. After this encounter, the Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola wrote about him: “Perhaps we no longer see Cristiano from another planet, perhaps we see the man more than the footballer.” The international press, for its part, did not spare Cristiano Ronaldo, such as the Guardian: “There is always a magic in seeing legends fade, in seeing them unleash themselves in the face of their diminishing power.” […] “One day there will be a Portugal game that won't be about Ronaldo, but not here, not yet. Everything is about Ronaldo, Portuguese football has become the great psychodrama of his ageing.”
