The Portuguese completed on the Euros after a penalty shoot-out, whereas the 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo remained on the pitch for the complete 120 minutes in the course of the quarter-final match towards France. He struggled once more all through the match and prime younger forwards Diogo Jota, Goncalo Ramos or Pedro Neto didn’t get a single minute within the essential match.
The distinction was hanging. When Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty in additional time of the Spherical of 16 towards the Slovenians and ended up in tears earlier than the top of the match, he obtained limitless help from his teammates.
One after the other they comforted him, inspired him, cajoled him into holding his head up proudly once more.
Joao Félix had an much more tough second on Friday night after the quarter-final shootout towards France. He was the one one in every of them to not convert his kick from the spot, he solely stamped the bar and subsequently collapsed in a heavy rush of despair after Théo Hernandez’s decisive hit.
“Mendes ran to him, Palhinha ran to him, Semedo ran to him. Pepe put apart his personal grief and ran to him too. The crew confirmed up and the unhappy factor is that we did not see it. One man did not run to Félix. As an alternative he walked the alternative approach course, he went his personal approach, pursued solely by the lustful gaze of the digicam. It was Cristiano Ronaldo,” wrote Jonathan Liew of the British newspaper The Guardian in his report straight from the Hamburg stadium.
In line with the writer, this might have been one of many unforgettable quarter-final battles, however as an alternative, a major a part of it was stolen from the followers. Exactly due to the eye that the attacker of Saudi Arabia An-Nassr as soon as once more usurped for himself.
“Consideration was stolen, minutes had been stolen from higher gamers who ought to have been on the pitch. The much less Ronaldo does, the extra essential he appears to change into. All the things is sinking into him like a black gap,” wrote the reporter in an article titled “Portugal vs. France : a galactic battle misplaced within the black gap of 1 man’s ego”.
In line with Portugal, they paid for the fixed patronage of the legendary soccer participant with the nickname CR7.
“The sabotage is full. One of the vital proficient groups ever assembled at this degree is disappearing into the identical black gap. It was horrible to look at,” he added.
The SkySports station introduced an analogous score. Within the evaluation, she referred to as the truth that Ronaldo was not substituted in 240 minutes of the playoffs, regardless that Portugal didn’t rating a objective in the complete interval, as absurd.
“What the Portuguese confirmed was alarming. Why did they select Ronaldo over the abundance of expertise on their bench? Jota and Ramos did not even get on the pitch. Bruno Fernandes needed to go off, however a clean, struggling Ronaldo remained,” mentioned SkySports’ Laura Hunter .
In line with most opinions, it was a tragic finish for Ronaldo, the choice of the Spanish coach of the Portuguese nationwide crew, Roberto Martínez, was evaluated as incomprehensible.
Particularly when the Selecao have already proven on the 2022 World Cup that they’ll do with out Ronaldo. When Goncalo Ramos changed him within the spherical of 16 in Qatar, he scored a hat-trick in a giant win over Switzerland.
Ronaldo already made it identified that this was his final Euro. He performed six of them in Portugal’s jersey, including to that 4 world championships. On Friday, he grew to become the primary participant to succeed in the 30-match European Championship mark. Nonetheless, crew success didn’t come.
