Contents
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Page 1He needs them and they need him
Page 2Perhaps they would not be on the field without him
Cristiano Ronaldo is 39 years old. He doesn’t jump as high, doesn’t shoot as hard, doesn’t run as fast. But emotionally he’s still just as involved as he used to be.
After losing the final against Greece at the 2004 European Championships at home, the boy from Madeira cried for the first time in front of the entire football world. His country cried with him, but it also knew that there was more to come. They cried together, Portugal and Ronaldo, before celebrating his rise to become the best player in the world, which he was for several years. And in 2016 they celebrated the long-awaited big European Championship title together.
On Monday evening against Slovenia, Ronaldo was again in tears in the company of his teammates. He had just missed a penalty. In extra time he could have decided the game for his Portuguese team. He didn’t – and somehow you could have seen it coming: Ronaldo didn’t get anything done against Slovenia that evening. His teammates looked for him, as they had always done over the past 20 years. But Ronaldo missed cross after cross, smashed free kick after free kick over the goal, looking helpless, pitiful. He used to carry his team, now they drag him through.
And so, after this round of 16, questions are more pressing than ever: Is Ronaldo still good for his team? Would they be better off without their superstar? How much of a favor is Ronaldo doing himself? And is it all about winning for the team and the country – or about playing a decent supporting role in the final episode of the great Ronaldo show?
From a purely sporting perspective, Ronaldo can no longer offer this team much. He was never able to prevail against Vanja Drkušić, his much less famous 24-year-old opponent who plays for FK Sochi. Ronaldo kept losing the ball, he lost momentum, and the timing of headers is no longer right for one of the best headers in history.
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At one point he got into a good position, but he shot the ball straight into the arms of the Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Even his first contact, reception and control of the ball now seemed sloppy. And then he missed the penalty that would have secured his place in the quarter-finals.
Ronaldo is still waiting for his first goal at this European Championship. He has shot at goal 20 times, more than any other player, but has never scored. Ronaldo would like to become the oldest goalscorer at a European Championship in history, and perhaps that is part of the problem. Especially when someone from this highly talented Portuguese team always has to sit on the bench for him. João Félix from Atlético Madrid, for example. Or Gonçalo Ramos from Paris Saint-Germain.
But leaving Ronaldo out? Impossible. For the Portuguese, Cristiano Ronaldo is not just a football player, he is a national hero. He is the global face of this country. 633 million people follow him on Instagram, more than the EU has inhabitants. CR7 is a brand with a similar recognition value to Coca-Cola. It is not easy to say which person on earth is more famous than Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo is 39 years old. He doesn’t jump as high, doesn’t shoot as hard, doesn’t run as fast. But emotionally he’s still just as involved as he used to be.
After losing the final against Greece at the 2004 European Championships on home soil, the boy from Madeira cried for the first time in front of the entire football world. His country cried with him, but it also knew that there was more to come. They cried together, Portugal and Ronaldo, before celebrating his rise to become the best player in the world, which he was for several years. And in 2016 they celebrated the long-awaited big European Championship title together.
