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Cristiano Ronaldo trains in Hassewinkel, Germany. / AFP
He is already 39, an age few footballers reach, but Ronaldo’s voracious appetite remains intact and the Portuguese star hopes to use the European Championship as an opportunity to break new individual and collective records.
Despite his seniority, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner remains confident that he will be a key player for the Portugal team that, according to Ronaldo, “deserves” to win the 2024 European Championship, which will be added to 2016, the only major title so far with the Selecao.
“I think this generation deserves to win a tournament of this magnitude,” Ronaldo, who is set to play in his sixth European Championship, told the media on Sunday, breaking his tie with Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas (5) for the most goals so far.
Portugal, coached by Spaniard Roberto Martinez, entered the tournament having performed perfectly (a record) in the qualifying stages, winning all ten of their games.
Portugal is in Group F with Turkey, Georgia and the Czech Republic, and will face off on Tuesday.
Everything seemed to indicate that after losing the 2022 World Cup (Portugal was eliminated by Morocco in the quarter-finals) and signing for Saudi Al Nasser, CR7’s career was destined to decline, but true to the rebelliousness he has always given, the Portuguese star has not yet said the last word.
– 130 goals in 207 international matches –
A week earlier, he scored twice in a friendly against Ireland, taking his international goal tally to 130, 14 of which came at the European Championships, making him the top scorer in the history of the European Championships. The second-place finisher is Frenchman Michel Platini (9).
In 2004, Ronaldo made his first appearance in his country’s European Championship, scoring on his debut against Greece, which then unexpectedly won the championship.
Since then, Ronaldo has never missed the tournament, playing a total of 25 games (he missed only one) and scoring in every edition of the tournament.
If the No.7 does it again in Germany, he will become the oldest player to score at the European Championships. The current record is held by Austrian Ivica Vastic in 2008, when he scored at the age of 38 years and 257 days.
“I love football; records are results, not goals, because they come naturally,” Ronaldo explained.
“I’m very happy to be playing in the European Championship for the sixth time and I tried to enjoy it in the best way possible, playing well, helping the team to win and giving everything,” he added.
– “Butterflies in the Stomach” –
Despite having a long career, playing 207 international matches for Portugal (another record in men’s football), Ronaldo is sure he still gets nervous.
“You always get those butterflies in your stomach, especially the day before a race, but that’s normal, it’s part of the game and I’m glad I felt it because if I didn’t the best thing to do would be to give up and quit.”
“I’m still very motivated. It’s a different game and we are all ready” for the debut against the Czech Republic.
Ronaldo’s ambition is a motivation for his teammates. “He always has big ambitions and we want to follow him,” defender Diogo Dalot declared at a press conference on Saturday.
Like Portugal, the Czech Republic has won the European Championship (Czechoslovakia in 1976) but has not reached the quarter-finals in 20 years.
The Czechs will present a defensive system of three centre-backs and two full-backs, led by Slavia Prague player Thomas Halls, to try to stop Ronaldo, for whom one of the few things to do at the Euros is to score a hat trick.
The last player to score three goals in a competitive match was Spaniard David Villa in 2008.
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