In a traumatic way, the Portuguese ended their participation in the European Championship in Germany – the last for the two greats, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe. France advanced to the semi-finals thanks to a better penalty shootout, and after Theo Hernandez defeated Diogo Costa with Les Bleus’ fifth attempt, emotional scenes followed at the stadium in Hamburg. Joao Felix cried because of the post he hit, and the veteran tandem because they had to face the reality – this was the last European Championship for the 41-year-old stopper and two years younger goalscorer.##NAJAVA_MECA_8197943##Footballers in red shirts consoled each other on the field, as well as in front of the press afterwards.”A difficult night for all the Portuguese. Joao is the one that missed, but it could have been me or any other player. It could have happened to all of us here. We have confidence in him, we know how difficult it is for him at the moment and we will try to help him. I feel sorry for Pepe and Ronaldo. They are two big names in our team and they deserve to win. I would like to thank them for everything only because they are an example to others on the field, but also off it,” said Ruben Neves after the game.Bernardo Silva stressed the unity of the team.”We remain united, we worked hard and managed to maintain a good atmosphere in the dressing room. There is unity in the team and we will try to keep it.”Revenge for 2016 served! Les Bleus leave CR7 & Co. feeling blue after penaltiesAlthough in his late football years, Pepe played a great tournament. It was especially astonishing when, at the end of the duel with France, he managed to run past Ousmane Dembele, 14 years younger, and take the ball away from him.”Pepe was an example throughout the tournament because of everything he did. Players like Gonçalo Inácio and Antonio Silva gained a lot of experience next to him and I’m sure he motivated them to be even better with his games and work in training,” said Roberto Martinez.The coach of the Portuguese team added that he has nothing to complain about his players despite the elimination.”We lost, but we lost proudly, fighting to the maximum, which is the Portuguese style. We don’t want to stop now, but look proudly to the future. We have an idea, and the individual quality of this team is clear to everyone. We worked well and we have to look into the future, there is life after this European Championship. We are sad because we wanted to make our fans happy and go to the end, and we will try to make it better in the future.”##EDITORS_CHOICE##Unlike Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo played his weakest tournament while playing for Portugal’s A national team. Since goals in penalty shoot-outs do not count, it was the first time he finished a major competition (World Cup or European Championship) without scoring. The record holder for the number of participations in continental competitions (this was his sixth European Championship) is also the top scorer in the history of the competition with 14 goals, but in Germany it was seen that he is far from his former level. However, football in Saudi Arabia is quite different from European football…However, it is not excluded that we will see Ronaldo in the Portuguese jersey at the 2026 World Cup, but with a much less important role than before. The former ace of Real Madrid has not yet addressed the media, while Pepe said that it is not the moment to talk about him and his future plans. The experienced sweeper, however, reflected on Ronaldo’s comforting hug after the match with France.”It means a lot to me. I have time to talk about my future, first all this pain of elimination has to pass. We had the capacity to go to the semi-finals, but we have to raise our heads and look ahead. I want to congratulate my teammates on the games, they are all worked according to agreement, but football is sometimes cruel,” stated Pepe.Journalists were persistent to find out if, considering that he had already parted ways with Porto, this was the last game of his career. He was asked if the tears came for any reason other than defeat.”Yes, but there will be time to talk about it,” Pepe indirectly confirmed the end of his (international) career.The moment when Ronaldo consoled a tearful Pepe after Portugal’s elimination from Euro 2024 yesterday 🥺♥️ pic.twitter.com/CDYmTrnxHj— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) July 6, 2024
