Part of that is gonna be exhaustion, no doubt. There were flashes of his brilliance against Hungary and Wales with crucial goals but he also faded out of the Croatia and Poland games. He was awful and wasteful against Iceland (and a sore loser/drawer afterwards), while he missed a penalty against Austria. Ronaldo rarely looked like the world beater that we know, the guy who scored 51 times in those 48 Real Madrid games for example. Turns out that after 48 games for Real Madrid this season and hardly more than a week or two of rest after the Champions League final, seven games in 27 days was a lot to ask. The rest of the team was shaped in a way that would minimise their goals conceded and manager Fernando Santos was banking on the lad they (cringingly) call CR7 to come up with a moment of genius to be the difference. The gameplan for the Portuguese definitely revolved around Ronaldo once they got attacking. Ronaldo didn’t miss a minute until he went off injured in the final, while Rui Patricio played all 720 of them. The extra round of knockouts helped, but at the same time this throws water on the idea that France were tired after having 24 fewer hours to recover for the final – Portugal played 60 extra minutes with a shallower squad. They’re the first team to win two separate games within extra time at the same Euros and the first to play three extra time games all up. That’s the same total as England managed – both of those wins were against Wales. Portugal won just a single game within 90 minutes at Euro 2016. But the best squad rarely wins these things, it’s the last team standing that gets that honour. Is this Portugal side better than Germany, France, Italy or Spain on paper? No, of course not. They came through the so-called easier side of the draw but there are no easy games. Defensively they could not have played any better, neutralising the threats of Ivan Rakitic, Robert Lewandowski (aside from the first few minutes), Gareth Bale, Antoine Griezmann and Dimitri Payet. Excuse the wild first hour of that Hungary game and they only conceded two other goals in five games. Point being that this was far from a one-man team. Joao Mario and Raphael Guerreiro were really good all month. William Carvalho was a commanding defensive midfielder. Renato Sanches wasn’t quite at his best in the final and was sacrificed as the team went to 4-3-3 late in regulation time but he was really good all Euros, crowned the Young Player of the Tournament as a reward. The keeper, Rui Patricio, made seven crucial saves in the performance of his life. Pepe and Jose Fonte were magnificent – except for that one slip by Pepe as Andre-Pierre Gignac’s shot came back off the inside of the post, an inch from a career-defining moment of heroism – and Nani has never looked more assured and mature. A winning goal in injury time coming from Swansea reject Eder, a man who sat on the bench unused in January as the Swans were knocked out of the FA Cup by Exeter City. That’s a big deal.Īnd those teammates that were supposedly so average, well they did it without him. If that doesn’t work than check him out later in the game, wearing a tracksuit top and limping around with heavy strapping on his knee, giving out inspirational quotes and pretty much coaching the team. It all adds up to a frustrating situation but then take a look at the devastation on his face (and the moth too) when he was injured in the final and try believe the claims that he’s only about himself. The persistence trophy guide free#So are the 40+ free kick shots at major tournaments without ever scoring one. Throwing microphones into the river is one thing but the temper tantrums on the pitch are a bad look. Are there people out there who hate him? Sure there are.
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