Football observer and former England national team player, Stuart Pearce suspects that there are current Portuguese players who deliberately do not pass the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo much at Euro 2024.
Ronaldo has appeared at the Euro for the sixth time in a row since 2004. In history, Ronaldo is the first footballer to be able to compete in six editions of the Euro.
The record is quite fantastic and is proof of Ronaldo’s consistency in maintaining his level at the top. However, on the other hand, the age difference between Ronaldo and his teammates is certainly getting bigger.
Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva are currently in their golden age, 29 years old and 10 years apart from Ronaldo. Not to mention if you count other players who are younger.
Stuart Pearce himself assessed that Ronaldo’s age is no longer young, making other players’ trust in CR7 not as big as before.
“There were several moments in the match when Ronaldo looked ready to stand and they didn’t send the ball to Ronaldo’s feet,” said Pearce as quoted by Talksport.
Pearce then gave an example when Ronaldo was ignored by Bernardo Silva in a counter-attack. At that time Portugal got the ball and Ronaldo ran down the right side.
“Bernardo Silva was in the center circle and Ronaldo was on the right side. I think if this had happened 10 years ago, then they would have passed the ball in front of Ronaldo and everyone knew that he would get it and score.”
“He [Silva] chose not to pass and I thought that was quite strange,” said Pearce.
Ronaldo struggled to lift Portugal’s performance in the match against the Czech Republic. He was tightly guarded and was often in the wrong position in the attack scheme that was arranged.
Although Ronaldo could not score, Portugal was still able to win 2-1 over the Czech Republic. Francisco Conceicao’s goal in injury time was the winner.
Image source: france24.com
