Captain of the Portugal team is arguably the best footballer in decades, if not even. Holder of many records, Cristiano Ronaldo has, among other things, played 207 games for his country and scored 130 goals during that time. He also participated in 34 games for all Portugal‘s youth teams and scored 19 goals. When the game with Czech Republic begins, he will be leading the line with his 39 years of age, and it will be his sixth EURO, a new record. He won the competition back in 2016 along with UEFA Nations League in 2018/19. And yet, he is being considering a ‘weak link‘ by some!Cristiano Ronaldo climbed through some bushes to take a selfie with fans ahead of Portugal’s Euro 2024 opener against Czech Republic 📸😂 pic.twitter.com/ivJtWVMIJn— SPORTbible (@sportbible) June 18, 2024 When Portugal take on Czech Republic tonight, former winger Karel Poborsky, who made more than 100 appearances for the national team, will be cheering for Ronaldo to start the game. Former Manchester United player believes that Al-Nassr striker is the weakest link. “I have been saying for a long time that in that Ronaldo will be one of their weakest links. The fans of both teams will go crazy for him, but at his age he is not as good at building the game and pressing as his younger team-mates. So our team would rather him start. Hats off to him for what he has achieved – thanks to his enormous self-confidence. But you can’t stop age, he is 39. We don’t know how he is with coach Roberto Martinez, but it was written about before that his predecessor Fernando Santos already encountered a problem at the World Cup in Qatar“ Poborsky told CTK, as per Goal, probably thinking about the situation when Santos benched Ronaldo and promoted Goncalo Ramos to the starting line-up. Mighty grandpas and a handful of magicians start their much-anticipated last danceBut it seems that former Manchester United player is not so informed. New boss Roberto Martinez relied on Ronaldo, who scored 10 goals during EURO qualifiers. “Cristiano is in the national team on merit. Nobody gets into the national team by just having a name. Cristiano scored 50 goals in 51 games – consistent with his club in his league – and he scored 10 goals in our qualification rounds. He’s a goalscorer and, for us, he’s someone who can make that final move. He can stretch defences and open spaces. Over the years, he has changed his way of playing slightly, but I can only say that Cristiano is in the national team on merit and the numbers are there to back that up” he said recently. EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – GROUP STAGETuesday19.00: (1.85) Turkey (3.50) Georgia (4.40)22.00: (1.55) Portugal (4.00) Czech R. (6.25)Wednesday16.00: (1.53) Croatia (3.90) Albania (7.00)19.00: (1.35) Germany (4.90) Hungary (9.50)22.00: (3.70) Scotland (3.40) Switzerland (2.05)
