On July 10, 2016, Cristiano Ronaldo experienced one of the greatest joys of his career when Portugal surprisingly defeated France 1-0 in the final of the 2016 Euro Cup held in Paris. However, the forward was not a protagonist in that match as he had to leave due to injury after 25 minutes. Eight years later, a new duel against the French will mark CR7′s farewell from the European Championship after being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
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This time in Hamburg, Portugal and France drew 0-0 in a match that only had some excitement in extra time and was decided on penalties: Cristiano scored his, but João Félix's mistake was enough for the French team to secure a spot in the semifinals, where they will face Spain in Munich on Tuesday.
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Cristiano Ronaldo could have scored the winning goal at the start of extra time, but he sent a good opportunity into the clouds, another example of a poor performance for the Saudi Al Nassr player.
Cristiano did not score any goals for the first time in a major tournament.
Cristiano Ronaldo's performance in this Euro 2024 in Germany is frankly poor. Yes, he is 39 years old, but he is still considered a world-class player and he did not demonstrate it.
In the first phase, Portugal faced second-tier rivals, such as the Czech Republic and Georgia, but CR7 couldn't score. He also didn't score in the convincing 3-0 victory of the Portuguese team against Turkey. But the worst came in the round of 16 against Slovenia, with several free kicks in favor that didn't pose a great threat and the famous penalty kick he missed in extra time. Then came what is so far the great image of Euro 2024: at the break of extra time, with still 15 minutes to play, Cristiano started crying due to his mistake and had to be cheered up by his teammates.
Fortunately, Diogo Costa was imperial in the penalty shootout, saving all the shots from the Slovenians and allowing the team to advance to the quarterfinals.
This is the first time that Cristiano Ronaldo has left a major national team tournament, World Cup or Euro, without scoring. It started against Greece in the 2004 Euro when he was 19 years old and the last was against Ghana in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
What comes next for Cristiano Ronaldo?
CR7 has already announced that the 2024 Germany European Championship was his last, but that doesn’t mean he will retire from the Portuguese national team.
Even though the group draw is not known yet, Portugal has great chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup to be held in North America, as with the new 48-team format, UEFA will have 16 spots.
If he decides to compete in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Cristiano would play the tournament at 41 years old and could become the first footballer to participate in six World Cups. Leo Messi could also achieve the same milestone in that tournament.
At the national team level, in addition to the Euro 2016, Cristiano Ronaldo also won the 2019 UEFA Nations League.