World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

RISEOFRONALDO 83

dseemtotumble
nverRonaldostepsout
tepitchinPortugalkit.
raptainingthenationto
majorhonouratEuro
mtheoldest playerto
ickinaWorldCupmatch
(indoingso,against
opner, healsobecame
useplayertoscorea
or Cups).
ginstMoroccointheir
stgegamesawhim
ukas’recordas the
agoalscorer of all-time
otugalwereeventually
elast 16 byUruguay,
aedintheDream
rormances.
hitrebleagainst
rutetothe 2019
rophy madehimthe
creintenconsecutive
opetitions,breaking
prviouslysharedwith
oahGyan.Twoyears
0 0,tenbecame11.
gfr thepostponed
ertkenRepublicof
RbbieKeaneasthe
ostgoalsinEuropean
qalification(25),
ordforscoring
stnationalteams
css.
theaddedpressure
ur 2020 level with
idfielderMichelPlatini
eaChampionshipgoals,
singlestrikewouldmake
htrecordholder.
ld’thaveaskedfora
thntheonepresented
42 dminuteof Portugal’s
st ungary.Unmarked
f tebox, hesomehow
uoernandes’pinpoint
br.
let hisheaddrop,the
pedptoslothomea
hhreeminutesremainingto
garians’resolveandmake
Euos’all-timetopscorer,
-stmpinghisrecordwith
on instoppage-time.
his match-winningbrace,
sbeamethefirst playerto
urpeanChampionships,
yer toscoretwogoalsin
eErosandtheoldest
efr Portugalatamajor
ounament.
’sscondgameofEuro
drectlyinvolvedinboth
; firstlyfinishingoff
conter-attackwhich
aGermanycorner,

andthenassistingDiogoJotawith

alobbedcrossfortheirsecondin

atough4-2defeat.

Twoconvertedpenaltiesagainst

Franceintheirthrillinggroup-stage

finalehelpedhimreachfivegoals,

atallyhewasunabletoaddto, as

Portugalwereknockedout by the

world’s top-rankedsideBelgium

inthelast 16.

Nevertheless,Ronaldowasawarded

theEuros’GoldenBootawardforthe

first timeinhiscareer, aheadofCzech

Republicstriker PatrikSchick(whoalso

finishedonfivegoals),duetohisextra

assistandfewerminutes-to-goalratio.

Leavingthecompetitionatsuchan

early stagewas clearlyadisappointing

endtoarecord-breakingtournament

forthestriker,whowasvisiblyenraged

atthefull-timewhistleagainst theRed

ABOVE:Frustrated...

Portugaleliminated at

thehands of Belgium

ABOVE LEFT:

Counter...Ronaldo

scores in thegroups

against Germany

TOP:Spoton...he

scored twopenalties

against France

Devils,throwinghiscaptain’s armband

totheirfloor.

Somepundits speculatedover

whetherhisobviousfrustrations

wereillustrativeof amanwhoknew

hewouldn’tbeappearingatanother

majorinternationaltournament,but

thecaptain’s comments afterthe

gamesuggestedthatactionsmight

notalwaysspeaklouderthanwords.

“Wedidn’tgettheresultwe

wantedandweleft theracesooner

thanwewanted.Butweareproud

ofourjourney,wegaveeverythingto

renewthetitleof Europeanchampions

andthisgroupprovedthatitcanstill

givemuchjoytothePortuguese.

CongratulationstoBelgiumandgood

lucktoalltheteamsthatremaininthe

competition.Asfor us,wewill come

backstronger.”

“Recordsseemtotumblewhenever

CristianoRonaldostepsoutonto

thepitchinPortugalkit”