“It seems like the Portuguese players don’t trust Ronaldo.”
Stuart Pearce, a soccer commentator and former England best fullback, made a shocking criticism saying, “It seems like the players don’t trust Ronaldo enough” after Ronaldo’s Portugal came from behind to win 2-1 over the Czech Republic in the first match of the Euro 2024 group stage.
The Portuguese national team, led by coach Roberto Martinez, struggled against the Czech Republic that day.
The Czech Republic lost the lead by allowing the first goal to Lucas Provod, but Robin Hranak’s unfortunate own goal tied the score. Afterwards, the Czech Republic seemed to succeed in gaining one point by holding off Portugal, the favorite for the title.
However, in the 92nd minute, right before the end, ‘Holy’ Francisco Conceição came off the bench and found the net just 111 seconds later, giving the team a 2-1 comeback win with a dramatic goal.
Along with the performance of Conceicao, who had a thrilling goal celebration with the 39-year-old Ronaldo, Ronaldo’s first match at Euro 2024, playing in the Saudi league, was also of great interest to critics.
With the 39-year-old Ronaldo, who spent 18 months in Al-Nasr in the Saudi Professional League, no longer at his peak, there was much controversy during the tournament as to whether Ronaldo would help or hinder the team.
Legendary striker Ronaldo failed to convert many chances into goals in the first half, and his chances decreased noticeably after halftime.
Stuart Pearce told TalkSport of the stone fastball: “I think his team-mates lack trust in Ronaldo, the captain and the wizard.”
He said: “It may sound funny, but it may be that I don’t trust Ronaldo enough to keep him supplied with balls.”
“There were several instances during the game when Ronaldo put his foot out, but the pass did not go under Ronaldo’s feet,” he said, citing the example of Bernardo Silva.
“Silva had the ball in the center circle, but a bad pass from the Czech Republic was cut off and Silva caught the ball.
Ronaldo peeled off the defense from the inside right position and went up. 10 years ago, he would have believed in Ronaldo’s goal and pushed the pass forward, but Silva refused the pass.
“I thought that part was very strange,” he said.
However, the interpretation was different depending on the viewing angle.
On the other hand, another England legend, Alan Shearer, believed that Portugal was too dependent on Ronaldo.
He said through BBC Sports, ‘Portugal sometimes only looks at Ronaldo instead of players in good positions.
‘There were better options,’ he pointed out.
Ronaldo scored immediately after Diogo Jota’s header bounced off the crossbar, but the goal was canceled due to an offside decision.
Despite missing the goal, Spanish legend Cesc Fabregas evaluated Ronaldo’s performance as captain positively.
“No matter what he does, as long as he does well or the team does well, Ronaldo always finds a chance.
He’s a player who takes his self-management on a whole other level.
Ronaldo only needs a moment of space to create a chance.
His overall play has improved significantly over the past few years.
“He’s always in front of the defenders and he’s unique.”
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