It’s over when CR7 – or CR197 – says it’s over. The elimination in the quarter-finals of the World Cup by Morocco did not bring superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to a farewell from the jersey with the national emblem. Few believed in the continuation of his career in the Portuguese national team when he moved to Al Nassr; however, the new coach Roberto Martinez called Ronaldo for the start of the qualification for EURO 2024 and enabled him to set another record. Cristiano played the 197th game for the Portuguese national team against Liechtenstein – no one played more matches for their homeland.Former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus goalscorer was in the starting line-up against Liechtenstein and scored twice in a 4-0 win, taking his tally to 120 goals for the national team. Luxembourg is the next opportunity to increase the tally because the Red Lions are his favorite customer. Ronaldo has found the back of Luxembourg’s net nine times so far.Every time he does the ‘SIU’ against the ‘little teams’, a memory pops up of when he failed the whole of PortugalAnd in this qualifiers cycle, Portugal is considered a clear candidate for going to the European Championship from Group J, where their rivals, in addition to Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, are also Slovakia, Iceland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Liechtenstein was easily beaten three days ago in Lisbon (4-0), and now the Navigators will visit a completely different opponent because Luxembourg is no longer considered a “dwarf” as it was a few years ago. In the long term, they showed that they can make even the favorites suffer.The selection from the Iberian Peninsula passed the group stage at the World Cup in Qatar and made it all the way to the quarter-finals, but surprisingly, they failed to overcome the sensation of the championship from Morocco and were eliminated after 0-1. Immediately after this match, longtime strategist Fernando Santos left the bench after more than eight years, and was replaced by Roberto Martinez, who worked for the Belgian national team for six years.Arsenal’s dynamo: They are one of the top five teams in the world but we won’t back downMartinez had a great debut against Liechtenstein.”This match was a good opportunity to get to know the players, and I have to praise them all for their attitude and willingness to work as a team. I am proud of the players for their performance, even if it was not ideal from our side in the first half. We are facing a stronger opponent on paper, and I am sure that Luxembourg will try to surprise us with something”.The last time Cristiano Ronaldo faced Luxembourg, he scored his 10th career hat-trick for Portugal. 🇵🇹pic.twitter.com/VUFRLhlv8Y— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) March 26, 2023 In the match against Liechtenstein, Ronaldo broke the world record.”Cristiano is a player who is fully committed to the team. I would like him to help us win EURO 2024,” Martinez said with great respect for the superstar.Luxembourg opened the qualifiers in Slovakia and earned a point in a goalless draw in Trnava, making it clear that they intend to once again be the pebble in the favourites’ shoe. Never in the history of the Red Lions have they drawn with Portugal, and they have suffered 15 defeats. In the past qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, they lost to him twice, with a score of 1-3 and 0-5.EURO 2024 – QualifiersSunday17.00: (12.0) Kazakhstan (5.80) Denmark (1.25)20.00: (19.0) Liechtenstein (7.75) Iceland (1.15)20.00: (1.28) England (5.50) Ukraine (11.0)20.00: (1.02) Slovenia (20.0) San Marino (45.0)22.45: (2.65) Slovakia (3.10) B&H (2.85)22.45: (23.0) Malta (10.0) Italy (1.10)22.45: (2.55) N.Ireland (3.05) Finland (3.00)22.45: (15.0) Luxembourg (7.25) Portugal (1.18)*** odds are subject to change ***
