Again iconic image of Euro 2024, with his crying for the missed penalty, his gesture of apology to the fans when he scored the shot of the shootout and his relief and his smile for qualifying for the quarterfinals achieved against Slovenia, the eleventh final phase of a great competition Cristiano Ronaldo She is the only one still without a goal in her career.
At 39 years old, in his last European tournament – it will be necessary to see if it is also a great competition, because the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico looms in two years’ time -, the luso star He remains the undisputed starter in his team, a reference, a leader, an admired player, whose validity is undoubted, but still frustrated by the goal. Still unattainable in Germany 2024.
None of his twenty shots have ended up in the opponent’s goal net. Neither against Türkiye nor against the Czech Republic nor against Georgia, in the first phase. Not even a penalty, against Slovenia, when Oblak made a spectacular save on his shot from eleven meters, in which ‘CR7’s’ skill is unquestionable.
Of his 166 shots at the club level, he scored 144 (86.7 percent correct). Of the 28 that he shot with the Portuguese team, he converted twenty (71.43 percent). In the penalty shoot-outs, he only missed two: 11 of 13. An 84.62 percent effectiveness.
He has not scored a goal, he has only given one assist in this Euro Cup, when he gave the 0-3 to Bruno Fernandes against Türkiye. He could have scored himself. He did not do it, nor has he done it in any of his eight shots between the three sticks. No one has beaten the opposing goalkeeper. Seven other shots ended up missing. Five more were blocked by the rival.
He has also committed five fouls. No goal. He has had an 86 percent passing accuracy (he delivered 58 of 66), he has made six dribbles, he has traveled 37.3 kilometers, he has set his maximum speed at 32.7 kilometers per hour and he has played each of the four Portugal matches from the beginning. Only Diogo Costa, the figure of the goal and the pass against Slovenia, has also done it, when he saved three penalty shots.
But Cristiano, whose cry after the penalty missed earlier against Oblak in extra time once again traveled around the world, has not yet scored the goal that he had achieved in each and every one of his ten previous final phases between the World Cups and the Euro Cups, with a total of 14 between the previous five and the current one in the continental competition and eight in the planetary events, with its maximum expression with the four goals he scored in Russia 2018.
In his five European Championships, at this point he had already scored a goal in his first four games, as he heads toward Friday’s duel against France in Hamburg.
In the first, in 2004, he scored two goals, one in his debut; In 2008 he added another one; in 2012 he finished with three; in 2016. he added three more; and in 2021 he was the top scorer with five hits, tied with the Czech Patrik Schick, although the Portuguese star was the winner for giving an assist.
On his tour of five World CupsAt the same time, he also scored at least one goal in each of them. In Germany 2006, with one; in South Africa 2010, with another; in Brazil 2014, with another; in Russia 2018, with four; and in Qatar 2022, with one.
