Portuguese football had Eusebio in the old days and Luis Figo in the modern era, but no one can compare with Cristiano Ronaldo in the 21st century, in terms of both excellence, specific achievements and influence on the world. National team.

Before Cristiano Ronaldo appeared in 2003, the Portuguese team appeared 3 times in the World Cup finals and 3 times in the EURO finals . They advanced to the semi-finals 3 times and the quarter-finals once in those 6 tournaments. With Ronaldo, Portugal attended 5 World Cups and 5 EUROs (in general, they were never absent from these two arenas). They won the championship once, finished second once, stopped in the semi-finals twice, and quarter-finals twice in those 10 tournaments. So Ronaldo’s direct contribution, just in the 21st century, is much greater than what the Portuguese team had in its entire previous history.

Ronaldo (7) directs his teammates from the sidelines during the EURO 2016 final

AFP

In terms of personal achievements, without Ronaldo, Portugal has only had two representatives win the “Golden Ball” (Figo and Eusebio once each), ranking 11th in the rankings. With Ronaldo, Portugal is the country that has won the “Golden Ball” the most times in Europe (7 times – equal to Germany, France, Netherlands; only lost to Argentina because that South American football system has Lionel Messi winning the 8th prize). time).

10 times participating in the EURO and World Cup is already a hard-to-break record, but if nothing changes, Ronaldo will have his 11th tournament, and his 6th EURO, this summer (he is already on the list). Portugal’s EURO 2024 finals list). He holds the record for both the number of appearances for the national team (206) and the number of goals scored for the national team (128), and these are all records that have not stopped.

Talking about Ronaldo’s mark on the national team, his performance at EURO is much clearer than the World Cup. Right from the first time Ronaldo participated in the tournament (EURO 2004), Portugal had a historic milestone: the first time it reached the final of a major tournament. Strangely enough: they lost to… Greece. That was the only time in EURO history that the final was a repeat of the opening match. Greece surprised the host Portugal 2-1 in the opening match of EURO 2004, then repeated the surprise to a greater extent when winning 1-0 against Portugal in the final.

At EURO 2012 – the tournament in which Spain was crowned to become the greatest team in history (winning 3 major tournaments in a row and being the first team to successfully defend the European championship) – Portugal Ronaldo’s team was considered better than Spain when the two sides met in the semi-finals (draw 0-0, Spain won on penalty kicks). The pinnacle of glory in the “Ronaldo era” was Portugal winning EURO 2016.

RECORD of records

After more than 20 years playing for the national team and preparing to enter the 6th EURO, if Cristiano Ronaldo owns a series of personal records in this arena, it is not a strange thing. This is probably the player who owns the most EURO records.

 

Ronaldo played in the most EURO tournaments (5 times, the tournament participation record is equal to Spain’s Iker Casillas, but Casillas only appeared in 3/5 tournaments); played the most matches (25 matches); has the most wins (12 matches); Has held the captain’s armband the most times (16 matches). Ronaldo is also the player who scores the most goals in the EURO arena (14 goals); scored in the most EURO tournaments (5); scored in the most matches (10 matches); scored the most “double” (4 matches).

All are records… not stopping yet. To further visualize Ronaldo’s 25 matches in EURO finals, let’s compare: from ancient times until 2012, the England team only played a total of 23 matches in this arena!

K drag B o D n HA INTO THE EURO 2016 final

It’s also ironic: Ronaldo played well and clearly demonstrated his leadership role in a tournament where Portugal was generally unconvincing. And when Portugal played convincingly and beat France in the final, it was a match in which Ronaldo only appeared in the first 25 minutes (leaving the field due to injury).

The journey to the championship consisted of 7 matches, but Portugal only won 1 match in 90 minutes. They drew all 3 group stage matches, even though it was the “lightest” group of the tournament, only ranked 3rd and went on thanks to a qualifying ticket. In the final match of the group stage, Portugal was led three times by Hungary. Ronaldo assisted the first equalizer and scored the remaining two equalizers. From Ronaldo’s rebounded shot, Quaresma scored the only goal in extra time, helping Portugal win against Croatia in the 1/8 round. That was the only shot in the right direction of goal in the entire match. After overcoming Poland in the penalty shootout, Portugal beat Wales 2-0 in the semi-finals, and that was their only win in 90 minutes.

Marco Van Basten’s almost “impossible” volley in 1988 or this player’s “Panenka” in 1976 are signature plays that will be forever remembered in EURO history, because of their deep impression. Ronaldo’s opening goal in the win over Wales, sending Portugal to the EURO 2016 final, was the same. People keep talking about it. There are also physics research projects at major universities. Jumping in place higher than everyone else to monopolize the space among the crowd of players, then leisurely putting your head in the net as if playing soccer alone, is the forte that makes the “Ronaldo brand”. He also knows how to create a “pause” for himself in the air, as if it were an unscientific thing. It is calculated that Ronaldo “stood” in mid-air for 0.7 seconds during his amazing goal at EURO 2016!

Finally, after leaving the field due to injury in the final, the image of Ronaldo helping Portugal win EURO 2016 is still unforgettable. Ronaldo… directed his teammates from the sidelines, as if he, not Fernandos Santos, were the coach. (to be continued)