Photo : Collected
Time is up again for Portugal's 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 (05 July) and Ronaldo was ineffectual at best, damaging to his own side's aspirations.
In the 2022 World Cup when former coach Fernando Santos dropped Ronaldo to the bench for the team's 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 favorites 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 Liverpool's Diogo Jota and Paris Saint-Germain's 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 forward's 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.
Messenger/Sourov
