“Long caution and cranking up (too) late

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For Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo was quite isolated against the Belgian three-man chain in defense work and for counterattack, while the colleagues behind them arranged themselves in a 4-1-4 (-1). Bernardo Silva often had to orientate himself backwards early on in order to take on Thorgan Hazard. Most likely, in Fernando Santos’ team, the figure eight moved out diagonally on the ball side to disrupt the opposing ball distribution.

Belgium tried hard on their own left side with the Hazard brothers and their most important builder Vertonghen. Meanwhile, de Bruyne acted more from the center than from half-right. Against overloading of the left wing, Portugal was able to push outwards early on and therefore got the sides closed comparatively well. If Belgium was able to open up space for half-space relocations, this was rarely used to accommodate a longer new circulation, but rather too ambitious for opposing paths into the depths.

Against the ball, Roberto Martínez’s men delivered a little higher than the opponent in the first half – in a passive implementation. A flat, narrow storm of three staggered at the transition to midfield in front of the six-room and Palhinha. The Belgian offensive forces found very good distances between the opposing defenders. Especially Lukaku, as a half-right striker, was often so close to the pass from Dias to Guerreiro that it was seldom served, and also prevented over-dribbling.

By finding the right position, the trio prevented simple upward moments on the wing and effectively defended five Portuguese. The midfielders of the European champions picked up the balls deeper – besides Palhinha, above all Renato Sanches, while Moutinho only remained more passive. At first they did this mainly in central areas, whereupon Belgium was able to simply keep the central compactness. Witsel often pursued man-oriented forward, which is why there were close four-way lines in the first line, which hardly got Portugal moving.

Over time, Sanches tipped over to the left more often and challenged the balls outside of the formation. At least this resulted in more diagonal staggerings and Belgium was pushed back further. With small dribbles or wide diagonal balls on the full-backs, who flattened themselves away from the opposing wing runners, Portugal had more moving up moments in the course of the first half. Since Belgium dropped back very quickly and carefully into the defensive pressing, there were also many horizontal ball passages along the block. In the absence of good movement patterns in the vicinity of the penalty area, these resulted primarily in long-range shots.

On the other hand, a finish from a distance suddenly led to the Belgian lead just before the break. This was preceded by a long ball on target Lukaku – always an option for Belgium, of course. This means and subsequently won rebounds ensured higher moments of possession in between. Such situations made it particularly clear how little presence Belgium usually brought forward: After securing the ball near the penalty area, de Bruyne and Eden Hazard often moved to the ball in peripheral zones to take actions that the wingers or half-backs could easily have performed.

Portugal’s transformation after the break

In fact, the goal just before the break did the game well, as one team took on more initiative from then on. Portugal not only became (strategically) more offensive in general. That alone would have been a boon given the team’s playful potential. In addition, the movement patterns and role allocation improved noticeably in the second half. The offensive players often commuted to the side of the opposing midfield to pick up the ball, as only the eighth had previously done.

They used these situations for diagonal pinching. Then a second player always moved focused into the horizontal gap between the Belgian six pushing out the ball and his neighbor. Often it was a winger who cut from the outside in and pulled away from outside the field of vision of the opposing midfielders. From then on Portugal had a constant occupation of relevant offensive areas – and a good one straight away. Many one-two situations arose from the half-spaces towards the corner of the penalty area.

In this way, the equalizer should have fallen in the first 25 minutes or so of the second round. After the substitutions, Joao Félix was also an offensive player, who shuttled through almost all the gaps and also ensured more options in the central areas. The most important figure over the entire period was Cristiano Ronaldo. Since his move from Real Madrid to Juventus, the superstar’s style of play has changed again, becoming more conventional and team-oriented again.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s strong performance

There have recently been very different appearances in the national dress. The first half against the Belgians wasn’t particularly good in terms of offensive movements and decisions. But after the break, Cristiano turned up. He looked for better positions in a more focused manner and stepped out of the half-spaces as a driver, also more useful to the team. At Juventus he was able to shine sporadically in a playing role in the last few seasons, but when was the last time he was involved like in this round of 16?

The superstar was involved in almost every good offensive approach of his team after the restart of the second round: Cristiano picked up balls and dribbled on, but increasingly refrained from ineffective deposits, which could possibly reduce dynamism or even influence opponents to the detriment of his own team. He repeatedly initiated one-two passes, followed suit and was clearly trying to use his teammates in subsequent situations.

Above all, he carried out these actions on a technically and coordinatively strong level. Cristiano is still not an outstandingly pressing-resistant offensive man, but his (pre-) orientation, even in narrow spaces, has recently increased significantly. Taking the ball into the dribbling and then into the following moments was often very powerful, and the individual sequences of movements were precise and defined.

In short: Cristiano called up potential that he had neglected for years. Throughout the past decade, the prerequisites have been there for him to be one of the most complete offensive players in the world and not just the most complete goalscorer of the new millennium – a role that he too often limited or overly focused on. Especially in his great success period at Real, he mainly lurked around the penalty area as a high-end exploiter, while others worked for him. Games like this against Belgium show what an excellent footballer and especially team player Cristiano Ronaldo can actually be – even at an older age – and could be if he behaved accordingly.

To be more precise, it was seldom so clearly evident as it was in this encounter. The rather unspectacular defeat of the defending champion will mean that the performance will soon be forgotten. Cristiano Ronaldo shone in the second half, even if the score sheet does not immortalize him as a goalscorer. Instead of such achievements, his career will be remembered for encounters in which he might convert two penalties and create a hat trick with a happily deflected free kick.

How Belgium’s leadership held up in the closing stages

The fact that this round of 16 against the Belgians did not end up with a spectacular finish for Cristiano Ronaldo was also due to the weakening momentum of his team in the last 20 minutes or so. On the one hand, what happened in such situations happened: The Portuguese became increasingly impatient during a strong phase in which they were not yet rewarded and as a result small uncleanliness crept in, which added up and ultimately became their own To the disadvantage of the book.

On the other hand, the Belgians achieved another small increase. In the meantime, the first pressing line had barely been able to work backwards, had also been easily overwhelmed, but recovered its energy. In most situations, the de Bruyne substitute Mertens moved lower or fell back earlier, sometimes more at the level of the six. So he stuffed the spaces next to the midfield that the Portuguese had dribbled so often.

But that was varied with advanced, more central positions, more or less next to Lukaku. Depending on the situation, Belgium then had a shifted double head in front of the six-person area, which led Portugal to their right-hand side, where Eden Hazard – according to the allocation – defended against Dalot. Martínez’s men were able to release the wing far away from the ball and contract more effective presence in that area.

Taken together, the various factors contributed to slowing Portugal’s momentum. Belgium brought the close result – overall with a bit of luck – over time. The European champion, also in the tournament in general, relied on defensive strategy for too long with an enormously talented troop and ultimately had to pay the price of a comparatively early elimination.