Forty-nine minutes into the Portugal vs Hungary game during the group stages, Joao Mario swung the ball in towards Cristiano Ronaldo, who was lurking in the box. Portugal were trailing Hungary 1-2 and staring at elimination.
Ronaldo had not had a good tournament thus far. He had missed a penalty. He had bungled free kicks, which he usually would have buried in his sleep. He had not scored for Portugal for over a year. Before the game, annoyed – as perhaps only he can be annoyed – at questions about his form, Ronaldo had thrown an inquisitive reporter’s microphone in to a lake. Ronaldo was under immense pressure.
The pass from Mario was over-weighted. It dropped awkwardly between Ronaldo’s feet. Lots of players would have struggled to get a decent touch on it. Ronaldo adjusted his body, held his balance and, using the heel of his right foot, flicked the ball in to the back of the net. It was audacious. It was breathtaking. It was the sort of thing that typifies Ronaldo.
A few days before this goal, we saw the other sort of thing that typifies Ronaldo. After debutants Iceland drew 1-1 with mighty Portugal, Ronaldo said: “I thought they’d won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end. It was unbelievable. When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition.”
The remark was boorish, mean and in appalling taste. (Also not particularly clairvoyant given that Iceland are in the quarterfinals already.) The Iceland defender Kari Arnason, knowing full well exactly what riles Ronaldo the most, had the following riposte to make. “Obviously we’re not going to create as many chances as a fantastic team like Portugal but his comments are the reason why Messi is always going to be one step ahead of him. You wouldn’t expect Messi to say that
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