Saturday | 5 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Saturday | 5 October 2024 | Epaper
BREAKING: ● Sailor dies after oil tanker catches fire in Ctg      ● Ex-president Badruddoza Chowdhury passes away      ● Killing during students' movement: 9 bodies to be exhumed in Sylhet      ● Malaysian prime minister leaves Dhaka for home      ● CA seeks Malaysian support for Bangladesh to be ASEAN dialogue partner      ● Malaysian PM assures of attention to 18,000 Bangladesh workers       ● Bid to kill Khaleda Zia: Sheikh Hasina among 113 sued      

End beckons again for Ronaldo after Portugal Euros KO

Published : Sunday, 7 July, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 249
BERLIN, JULY 6: Time is up -- again -- for Portugals ageing superstar Cristiano Ronaldo after an inglorious Euro 2024 exit.

France ousted the 2016 winners 5-3 on penalties after a goalless quarter-final in Hamburg on Friday and Ronaldo was ineffectual at best, damaging to his own sides aspirations at worst.

In the 2022 World Cup when former coach Fernando Santos dropped Ronaldo to the bench for the teams 6-1 demolition of Switzerland, a bright Portugal future shimmered on the horizon.

However his successor Roberto Martinez has backed the 39-year-old, now playing in Saudi Arabia at Al-Nassr, to the hilt and beyond.

Maintaining the former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward as their figurehead, Portugal swept through Euros qualification with a 100 percent record and were among the favourites in Germany.

However they have badly under-performed with Ronaldo failing to find the net in five appearances this summer. The striker is without a goal in his last nine major tournament matches.

Despite boasting strong options to replace him, including Liverpools Diogo Jota and Paris Saint-Germains Goncalo Ramos, Martinez refused to take Ronaldo off against France.

Didier Deschamps substituted Les Bleus icon Kylian Mbappe as he struggled to make an impact but Ronaldo remained even as the game passed him by.

In the last 16 win over Slovenia Ronaldo missed a penalty in extra-time and burst into tears, a distracting sideshow, but Martinez praised the forwards emotional reaction after the game as a sign of his passion.

However many suspect those tears were not for Portugal but for himself, as he failed to break the record for the oldest player ever to score at a European Championship.

Ronaldo also ended his run of scoring at every major international tournament he has competed in, and could not extend his record of 14 Euros goals.

He took 23 shots without success in Germany, and perhaps the most damning was a glittering opportunity in extra-time against France.

Spritely winger Francisco Conceicao cut the ball back to the forward, a few yards out from goal, but somehow he fired his teams clearest chance high over the bar.

It was the kind of chance that Ronaldo has dispatched a hundred times in his career.

Ronaldos presence heavily conditions the way Portugal plays.

His team-mates, including creative geniuses Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, often resort to crosses to try and find him.

Ronaldo no longer has the pace to consistently break in behind the defence, limiting the passing options of the teams playmakers.

Martinez not only did not seem powerful enough to leave Ronaldo out of his plans altogether but could not even bring himself to substitute the forward at the tournament, except for in the shock 2-0 defeat by Georgia.

Ronaldo started that match even though Portugal were guaranteed to win the group, while virtually every other regular was rested.

The coach said after elimination by France that no decision had been made over Ronaldos future at international level. "We just finished the game, everything is still too raw, we e suffering a defeat as a team, theres no individual decisions at this point," Martinez told reporters.    —AFP



LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
Finally beaten Madrid aiming for Villarreal rebound in La Liga
Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
Rising Kenya athletics star Anyango fails doping test
FIFA defers decision on call to suspend Israel
Top seed Sabalenka stunned by Muchova in Beijing last eight
Ten Hag faces make-or-break trip to Aston Villa
Sinner not 'comfortable' as doping case clouds Shanghai campaign
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: info©dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝