Ronaldo’s legacy tainted by no big win
Temperamental Portugal star still searching for a championship
PARIS Cristiano Ronaldo’s reprehensible post-match display this week masked his more vulnerable emotions.
The polarizing Portuguese footballer doesn’t hold any animosity toward Iceland, a Nordic island he probably could purchase given the size of his bank account. He’s more concerned his legacy won’t include an international trophy, something his Portuguese brethren insist he can deliver at every major tournament.
That infamous image from Euro 2004 is stuck in the minds of many. Ronaldo, just 19, is shown sobbing uncontrollably having just lost the final in Lisbon.
Four years later at Austria- Switzerland, amid so much promise and anticipation, the Manchester United man fell short of his own astronomically high expectations.
Back-to-back World Cups followed. Then there was the night in Donetsk, where Ronaldo never got a chance to try a penalty kick in a semifinal shootout at Euro 2012 against Spain. When Spain’s Cesc Fabregas hit on Spain’s fourth and final penalty kick, it made the score 4-2. Match over. Ronaldo, who was scheduled to take Portugal’s fourth shot, could only watch as La Roja celebrated.
The past still haunts the world’s best player.
Iceland’s big achievement in securing a 1-1 draw against Portugal on Tuesday, simply hindered Ronaldo’s path to further greatness.
His rage and anger and lack of onfield humility and integrity have more to do with himself than anything his opponents are doing.
The aforementioned history is what makes Saturday’s massive Group F tilt here in Paris all the more tasty. Portugal versus Austria is a match that wasn’t expected to be so crucial coming into Euro 2016.
Given Tuesday’s results — the Austrians fell in shocking fashion to Hungary — the loser at Parc de Princes will face elimination before anyone could have imagined, especially in what might be Ronaldo’s Euro swan song.
And that’s what makes Ronaldo’s lack of production Tuesday night against Iceland all the more glaring.
The 31-year-old should be winning the Golden Boot given he’s competing in the weakest of six Euro groups.
We’re still waiting for him to usurp Lionel Messi as the undisputed greatest player of a generation, a label many still aren’t willing to bestow on the Real Madrid striker. Or, midfielder. Whatever he is, he’s certainly an agitator.
“Cristiano can play in any position,” Portuguese manager Fernando Santos said as Ronaldo, along with his teammates, trained inside Parc de Princes Friday afternoon. “He needs to be free on the pitch.”
Then came questions concerning Ronaldo’s role within the team. Is his underperformance proof that he’s not critical to Portugal’s success at major tournaments?
“Ronaldo is the best player in the world,” Santos said with a shrug. “What else can I say? How relevant do you think he is … I respect (a reporter’s) job. But he’s the best player in the world.”
Until it comes to major tournaments. Six goals in 15 Euro matches is well below his standards given many believed Ronaldo was on pace to pass Michel Platini’s as the tournament’s all-time leading goal-scorer. Platini has nine goals.
Instead, we’ve been treated to the worst of Ronaldo, the whining and crying and chasing down referees as if they’ve committed some kind of unimaginable atrocity.
All they’ve done, though, is got between the world’s best player and what might be his final chance at European glory, his final chance to add to an already untouchable legacy.
Like Ronaldo, Portuguese supporters always believe they’re destined for great things at this tournament. Ronaldo expressed as much in his post-game remarks on Tuesday, adding Iceland would accomplish nothing more at this tournament.
And while he very well could be right, there’s little proof to suggest his side will go on to achieve great things like it almost did more than a decade ago.
That, in essence, is what concerns Ronaldo the most. NOTE: Saying “terrorist” in a French football stadium is like saying “bomb” on an airplane. You just don’t do it. Then there’s Croatian bench boss Ante Cacic, who was left fuming following Friday night’s 2-2 finish with the Czech Republic in Saint-Etienne. With Croatia leading 2-1 minutes before the end, a supporter — believed to be a Croatian hooligan — threw an explosive onto the pitch. Croatian goal-scorer Ivan Perisic was standing next to it as it exploded while a stadium worker attempted to remove it. “They’re sports terrorists,” Cacic said, using that forbidden term. “We lost our energy on the account of those supporters.”