Cristiano Ronaldo

[Red Shorts]

Hopefully not well. I need team USA to advance past the group stages.

Yeahhhhhh don't hold your hopes up too high ...

 

[RooneyLegend]

If ronaldo played like he can vs spain at the euros they'd have knocked them out. The whole portugal team was up for that game and gave as much as they got. Ronaldo though had a painfully average game. You'd have thought having such a legendary footballer in your line up wouldve been enough to push them over the line, it wasn't. Moutinho was particularly fantastic in that match, one of the best performances of the tournament iirc.

Ronnie in the 12 euro was really nothing special. He had 1 special match(vs holland) and the others he was just good(czech rep) or average(germany, denmark) saying that he carried portugal to anything is a gross misrepresentation of facts.

This is his chance though, possibly his last to take his claim amongst the true greats of the game. Like messi, his relative failings at int tournaments don't do anything for his rating in the goat stakes. What he did at world cup 10 is totally unacceptable at this point.

 

[fishfingers15]

If ronaldo played like he can vs spain at the euros they'd have knocked them out. The whole portugal team was up for that game and gave as much as they got. Ronaldo though had a painfully average game. You'd have thought having such a legendary footballer in your line up wouldve been enough to push them over the line, it wasn't. Moutinho was particularly fantastic in that match, one of the best performances of the tournament iirc.

Ronnie in the 12 euro was really nothing special. He had 1 special match(vs holland) and the others he was just good(czech rep) or average(germany, denmark) saying that he carried portugal to anything is a gross misrepresentation of facts.

This is his chance though, possibly his last to take his claim amongst the true greats of the game. Like messi, his relative failings at int tournaments don't do anything for his rating in the goat stakes. What he did at world cup 10 is totally unacceptable at this point.

Like Zidane carrying France in 98?

 

[MoneyMay]

Are people actually saying Ronaldo was poor in euro 2012? Are you kidding? That's just stupid, he was brilliant throughout, carried Portugal and if I recall, he hit the bar and almost won the game against Spain in the semi's, where Portugal played better then Spain in but then lost on penalties where Ronaldo was waiting to take the 5th one. He had an amazing tournament though, maybe starting slowly in the first game but got better as the tourny went on.

It was far from brilliant or amazing though. Ronaldo produced more underwhelming performances than special performances, IMO. Apart from the Holland and Czech Republic games, he failed to produce consistently and this was after an impressive 11/12 season.

 

[SportingCP96]

If ronaldo played like he can vs spain at the euros they'd have knocked them out. The whole portugal team was up for that game and gave as much as they got. Ronaldo though had a painfully average game. You'd have thought having such a legendary footballer in your line up wouldve been enough to push them over the line, it wasn't. Moutinho was particularly fantastic in that match, one of the best performances of the tournament iirc.

Ronnie in the 12 euro was really nothing special. He had 1 special match(vs holland) and the others he was just good(czech rep) or average(germany, denmark) saying that he carried portugal to anything is a gross misrepresentation of facts.

This is his chance though, possibly his last to take his claim amongst the true greats of the game. Like messi, his relative failings at int tournaments don't do anything for his rating in the goat stakes. What he did at world cup 10 is totally unacceptable at this point.

to be fair your point about WC 10 is a bit harsh we had a coach who was completely focused on defense we only conceded vs Spain the tactics used by Portugal in that tournament and the way the team was set up was very bad proof of that is that after that tournament we started qualifiers terribly as soon as Carlos Queiroz was sacked and Paulo Bento came in Ronaldo was his old self again and was our top scorer in the qualifiers so i think it was a bit unfair to blame Ronaldo for WC 10

 

[RedRonaldo]

If you watched holland for the tournament, they were by a distance the worst defensive team in the EURO's. That backline of Heitinga-Mathisjen was a disaster, and the defensive line they put out against portugal, williems-mathijsen-vlaar-wiel was a joke.

early on i was more impressed with nani then ronaldo for that tournament, unbelievable but true in my opinion, he was portugal's man of the match against denmark where ronaldo didn't score any goals and didn't make any key passes and only had 1 dribble. Portugal narrowly won 3-2.. thanks to a Varela super sub goal in the 87th minute. Ronaldo wasn't involved in any of the goals and created nothing.
Nani on the other hand was superb.

True Ronaldo scored 2 against Netherlands, but honestly i find it extremely generous to consider that a feat of any kind... that dutch defence was disastrous. Just awful. And true he was very very good against the czech republic, but really, that's a team with no defence again.

Quick, someone off the top of their head name the Czech defensive line for that game.

No answers?

I don't blame you, it was composed of selassie-kadlec-sivok-limbersky. Their respective club teams? slovan liberec-bayer leversukken-beskitas-victoria plzen. I can't give huge respect to a team with Nani-Moutinho-Ronaldo managing to be effective against that defence.

They couldn't do much against Germany, and they couldn't do much against Spain, the only two teams that they faced with respectable defences. It's harsh to blame anything on ronaldo but also naive to ignore that ultimately, he couldn't do anything against well composed, quality defences.

What do you mean? Goals scored against the weaker defense shouldn't be counted? Are you awared that Messi scored the majority of his goals against the defense that you couldn't name as well?

Man saying he can't score against organized defense is just ridiculous. This man broke every record out there, you seriously need some reality check, really.

 

[Malva]

What do you mean? Goals scored against the weaker defense shouldn't be counted? Are you awared that Messi scored the majority of his goals against the defense that you couldn't name as well?

Man saying he can't score against organized defense is just ridiculous. This man broke every record out there, you seriously need some reality check, really.

1. i didn't mention Messi at once, this had nothing to do with him, you did.

2. goals scored against weak defenses are considered of course, but what you're basically doing is ignoring that he couldn't do anything against the teams that matter. I already talked about his goals scored, and pointed out the goals he didn't score.

3. what records has he got at the international tournament level? that's the level we're talking about. none.

4. reality check? sure, someone check what i'm saying and point out the errors. otherwise, what are you on about?

 

[RedRonaldo]

It was far from brilliant or amazing though. Ronaldo produced more underwhelming performances than special performances, IMO. Apart from the Holland and Czech Republic games, he failed to produce consistently and this was after an impressive 11/12 season.

The only games he didn't play brilliantly were against Germany, Spain and Denmark. You really can't expect him to beat Germany and Spain on his own, the two best team in the world. Portugal was far behind their level to be fair.

 

[RedRonaldo]

1. i didn't mention Messi at once, this had nothing to do with him, you did.

2. goals scored against weak defenses are considered of course, but what you're basically doing is ignoring that he couldn't do anything against the teams that matter. I already talked about his goals scored, and pointed out the goals he didn't score.

3. what records has he got at the international tournament level? that's the level we're talking about. none.

4. reality check? sure, someone check what i'm saying and point out the errors. otherwise, what are you on about?

You need a reality check if you think he can't do anything against organized defense. He has done it over and over again in past 7 years, and no one does better than him in the past 30 years or so, in terms of scoring against any defense.

He has 49 international goals so far in his career, all time record holder in Portugal. He didn't won any major international tournament though, but not his fault given the quality of team he plays. His notable international achievement including 2 Euro semi-finals and 1 WC semi-final, apparently an overachievement for the team he is playing for. WC 2010 was a disappointment for Potugal, although he has been voted man of the match for all of the three Portugal group matches, he did scored in every tournament he has played so far, including 3 goals in 5 matches in Euro 2012.

Overall I think he did well on the international level, at least better than Messi, but obviously far from Zidane, Maradona, Pele level at major tournament. But he has been playing for a rather limited team so I don't understand why the expectation on him was always on such a sky high level.

 

[RedRonaldo]

If ronaldo played like he can vs spain at the euros they'd have knocked them out. The whole portugal team was up for that game and gave as much as they got. Ronaldo though had a painfully average game. You'd have thought having such a legendary footballer in your line up wouldve been enough to push them over the line, it wasn't. Moutinho was particularly fantastic in that match, one of the best performances of the tournament iirc.

If you expect one great player is good enough to beat a whole great team, then you don't know football I'd say.

Ronaldo was playing against a truly great team, which has won every tournament on sight at that time.

 

[Malva]

You need a reality check if you think he can't do anything against organized defense. He has done it over and over again in past 7 years, and no one does better than him in the past 30 years or so, in terms of scoring against any defense.

He has 49 international goals so far in his career, all time record holder in Portugal. He didn't won any major international tournament though, but not his fault given the quality of team he plays. His notable international achievement including 2 Euro semi-finals and 1 WC semi-final, apparently an overachievement for the team he is playing for. WC 2010 was a disappointment for Potugal, although he has been voted man of the match for all of the three Portugal group matches, he did scored in every tournament he has played so far, including 3 goals in 5 matches in Euro 2012.

Overall I think he did well on the international level, at least better than Messi, but obviously far from Zidane, Maradona, Pele level at major tournament. But he has been playing for a rather limited team so I don't understand why the expectation on him was always on such a sky high level.

twice you've mentioned messi without the need to.

he's got 49 international goals, great... in 110 matches. less then 1 out of 2 games. good, even great, nothing special though.

Oh yeah and you're right, Ronaldo shouldn't be blamed at all for Portugal's failures, never, not once, it would be too harsh, he deserves none of the blame. Anything he does manage to do is an example of how much he carries portugal and overachieves with them. He should get alot of credit for his bravery. Individually there is absolutely nothing you can criticize about ronaldo.

 

[RedRonaldo]

twice you've mentioned messi without the need to.

he's got 49 international goals, great... in 110 matches. less then 1 out of 2 games. good, even great, nothing special though.

Oh yeah and you're right, Ronaldo shouldn't be blamed at all for Portugal's failures, never, not once, it would be too harsh, he deserves none of the blame. Anything he does manage to do is an example of how much he carries portugal and overachieves with them. He should get alot of credit for his bravery. Individually there is absolutely nothing you can criticize about ronaldo.

Don't be silly. You are the one who said he has achieved nothing on international level, and he can't do anything against organized defense, I am merely stating out the facts and to point out how stupid it is to say such thing.

If you want to criticize him when he is having a bad game, fine go ahead. But don't try to put up such silly statement to go with your own opinion.

 

[Blasphemy]

Are people actually saying Ronaldo was poor in euro 2012? Are you kidding? That's just stupid, he was brilliant throughout, carried Portugal and if I recall, he hit the bar and almost won the game against Spain in the semi's, where Portugal played better then Spain in but then lost on penalties where Ronaldo was waiting to take the 5th one. He had an amazing tournament though, maybe starting slowly in the first game but got better as the tourny went on.

Amazing? I'd expect such nonsense from RedRonaldo, he couldn't buy a clue but I think you've forgotten what actually happened in this tournament.

 

[Malva]

Don't be silly. You are the one who said he has achieved nothing on international level, and he can't do anything against organized defense, I am merely stating out the facts and to point out how stupid it is to say such thing.

If you want to criticize him when he is having a bad game, fine go ahead. But don't try to put up such silly statement to go with your own opinion.

what are you talking about? You're flat out lying right now.


I didn't say "he has achieved nothing on international level", I said he doesn't have any records on the international level, retorting to when you said

"Man saying he can't score against organized defense is just ridiculous. This man broke every record out there, you seriously need some reality check, really."

Because he really doesn't have any records relevant to a EURO/WC level, not that i think there's actually something significant about that level of competition, but THIS IS WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.

What's funny about what you said is, that, I'm not saying he can't score against organized defences, i'm actually recounting it, because see, against those organized defences, he DIDN'T score. I'm not making up anything. I'm talking about what happened, and you still find this fact incredulous, as if i made it up. I watched Portugal at the Euro's, this is what i saw with my eyes. Ronaldo didn't score against organized, competent defences. This is something needing a reality check? What are you talking about?


You haven't coherently talked about anything. You DIDN'T state ANY facts about what's wrong with saying he hasn't done it against an organized defense. You just went on about why ronaldo is such a brilliant player, and that since he's achieved so much elsewhere, this is an excuse to why he's come short on the international stage.
You've also changed the tense, i said he hasn't, not to say he can't.

You are incredibly biased. Of the two of us, i'd like to ask a neutral who really needs a reality check, because i believe i'm the only one using any real facts.

 

[Blasphemy]

To be honest the alternatives were passing to a useless Postiga.

Fun fact: Postiga actually have 27 goals in 66 games for Portugal.

Ronaldo's goals per game record for Portugal isn't actually that much better than Postiga's.

 

[Blasphemy]

what are you talking about? You're flat out lying right now.


I didn't say "he has achieved nothing on international level", I said he doesn't have any records on the international level, retorting to when you said

"Man saying he can't score against organized defense is just ridiculous. This man broke every record out there, you seriously need some reality check, really."

Because he really doesn't have any records relevant to a EURO/WC level, not that i think there's actually something significant about that level of competition, but THIS IS WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.

What's funny about what you said is, that, I'm not saying he can't score against organized defences, i'm actually recounting it, because see, against those organized defences, he DIDN'T score. I'm not making up anything. I'm talking about what happened, and you still find this fact incredulous, as if i made it up. I watched Portugal at the Euro's, this is what i saw with my eyes. Ronaldo didn't score against organized, competent defences. This is something needing a reality check? What are you talking about?


You haven't coherently talked about anything. You DIDN'T state ANY facts about what's wrong with saying he hasn't done it against an organized defense. You just went on about why ronaldo is such a brilliant player, and that since he's achieved so much elsewhere, this is an excuse to why he's come short on the international stage.
You've also changed the tense, i said he hasn't, not to say he can't.

You are incredibly biased. Of the two of us, i'd like to ask a neutral who really needs a reality check, because i believe i'm the only one using any real facts.

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with him. Both reading and writing in coherent English is a challenge for him and he constantly invents facts out of thin air.

 

[Malva]

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with him. Both reading and writing in coherent English is a challenge for him and he constantly invents facts out of thin air.

very frustrating. i thought this level of conversation would have been filtered out having moved up to the mains, but it looks like more of the same nonsense.

 

[RedRonaldo]

what are you talking about? You're flat out lying right now.


I didn't say "he has achieved nothing on international level", I said he doesn't have any records on the international level, retorting to when you said

"Man saying he can't score against organized defense is just ridiculous. This man broke every record out there, you seriously need some reality check, really."

Because he really doesn't have any records relevant to a EURO/WC level, not that i think there's actually something significant about that level of competition, but THIS IS WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.

What's funny about what you said is, that, I'm not saying he can't score against organized defences, i'm actually recounting it, because see, against those organized defences, he DIDN'T score. I'm not making up anything. I'm talking about what happened, and you still find this fact incredulous, as if i made it up. I watched Portugal at the Euro's, this is what i saw with my eyes. Ronaldo didn't score against organized, competent defences. This is something needing a reality check? What are you talking about?


You haven't coherently talked about anything. You DIDN'T state ANY facts about what's wrong with saying he hasn't done it against an organized defense. You just went on about why ronaldo is such a brilliant player, and that since he's achieved so much elsewhere, this is an excuse to why he's come short on the international stage.
You've also changed the tense, i said he hasn't, not to say he can't.

You are incredibly biased. Of the two of us, i'd like to ask a neutral who really needs a reality check, because i believe i'm the only one using any real facts.

ultimately, he couldn't do anything against well composed, quality defences.

Anyone can see how ridiculous it is to say such thing. I can't even bother to stat out all matches he scored against quality defense over past 7 years. I mean, just go look for yourself, it's everywhere.
If you mean it in Euro 2012 only, (there could only 1 or 2 team he came across with 'organized' defense under your definition) you better rewrite your statement in less general wording.

3. what records has he got at the international tournament level? that's the level we're talking about. none.

His notable international achievement including 2 Euro semi-finals and 1 WC semi-final, apparently an overachievement for the team he is playing for. WC 2010 was a disappointment for Potugal, although he has been voted man of the match for all of the three Portugal group matches, he did scored in every tournament he has played so far, including 3 goals in 5 matches in Euro 2012.

Man sometimes you got to look back at the things you have written and wonder how ridiculous it is. You are criticizing him for not breaking new records at international tournament for Portugal? Really?

 

[RedRonaldo]

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with him. Both reading and writing in coherent English is a challenge for him and he constantly invents facts out of thin air.

Quote me if you can.

Or just back off to your own fantasy world.

 

[Malva]

Man sometimes you got to look back at the things you have written and wonder how ridiculous it is.

what the feck are you even talking about? are you struggling with english or something? you've only highlighted my words, and proved exactly what i've said.

 

[Malva]

Anyone can see how ridiculous it is to say such thing. I can't even bother to stat out all matches he scored against quality defense over past 7 years. I mean, just go look for yourself, it's everywhere.

that's not even what i'm talking about you donkey. i'm talking about euro fecking 2012, and talking to people who said ronaldo was superb in the euro 2012. i'm not talking about feck else.

 

[RedRonaldo]

very frustrating. i thought this level of conversation would have been filtered out having moved up to the mains, but it looks like more of the same nonsense.

Look, the problem with you and few of others here is, you people expect him to excel every match in every tournament, no matter which team he plays for. Fact is, quality at international level isn't any better than say at CL level, the defenders he came across in those tournaments were the same ones he has been scoring freely against every week in past 7 years. If your whole discussion is based from such limited perspective on such limited no. of games, fine then there really not much meaning there for the discussion.

 

[RedRonaldo]

that's not even what i'm talking about you donkey. i'm talking about euro fecking 2012, and talking to people who said ronaldo was superb in the euro 2012. i'm not talking about feck else.

He doesn't have a perfect tournament, but if you care to read my post, I merely said he was Portugal best player in the tournament, and Portugal has overachieved in this tournaments.
This is referring to some nuts saying he was poor and was a hindrance to the team

 

[Gio]

Are people actually saying Ronaldo was poor in euro 2012? Are you kidding? That's just stupid, he was brilliant throughout, carried Portugal and if I recall, he hit the bar and almost won the game against Spain in the semi's, where Portugal played better then Spain in but then lost on penalties where Ronaldo was waiting to take the 5th one. He had an amazing tournament though, maybe starting slowly in the first game but got better as the tourny went on.

I must have been watching a different tournament. He was poor in the first two games and was more of a hindrance than a help in the Denmark game. He got his shit together for the Holland and Czech Republic matches and threatened to have a strong tournament. But he had a bad match when it mattered against Spain and that was that.

 

[Señor]

I must have been watching a different tournament. He was poor in the first two games and was more of a hindrance than a help in the Denmark game. He got his shit together for the Holland and Czech Republic matches and threatened to have a strong tournament. But he had a bad match when it mattered against Spain and that was that.

Yep, agree with that. He wasn't brilliant throughout, by any stretch of the imagination. He certainly didn't carry Portugal against Spain either. There were a number of players in that Portugal team that played better than him on a night where he was poor by his standards.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I must have been watching a different tournament. He was poor in the first two games and was more of a hindrance than a help in the Denmark game. He got his shit together for the Holland and Czech Republic matches and threatened to have a strong tournament. But he had a bad match when it mattered against Spain and that was that.

That's how I remember it too.

 

[united_99]

I must have been watching a different tournament. He was poor in the first two games and was more of a hindrance than a help in the Denmark game. He got his shit together for the Holland and Czech Republic matches and threatened to have a strong tournament. But he had a bad match when it mattered against Spain and that was that.

Yep, he also missed at least 2 sitters / 1 v 1 in his first two games and wasn't it tha young Portuguese striker who scored the winning goal very late in one of those games? This way Ronaldo was lucky his misses didn't matter in the end. He improved in the following two games and was very average against Spain despite Portugal as a team playing very well in that game.

 

[mancan92]

Man I'm pretty sure lots of you guys have some sort of agenda against Ronaldo. The guy had 3 goals and 4 shots off the post in Euro 2012.
Then can the same people who said he was poor against spain please watch this video as it will clearly prove you are talking nonsense. He was a constant threat and by far portugal's best player.

 

[Raul Madrid]

Ronaldo wasn't as brilliant as some people are saying he was at euro 2012, but he wasn't as bad as some people are saying either. He was joint top scorer and got into the official team of the tournament so he had to have done something right.

 

[mancan92]

Ronaldo wasn't as brilliant as some people are saying he was at euro 2012, but he wasn't as bad as some people are saying either. He was joint top scorer and got into the official team of the tournament so he had to have done something right.

Its tough for anyone to have a brillant tournament really unless your in a top side. But ronaldo had a very good tournament. I highlighted the spain match because it seems people have short term memories because as you can see from the video he was a constant threat and clearly portugal's most dangerous player. At the end of the day most players who people claim to have had great tournaments only really show up for 3 matches e.g. Ronaldo , Zidane.

 

[MoneyMay]

Or actually watch these videos and tell me that he was brilliant:

 

[RedRonaldo]

Man I'm pretty sure lots of you guys have some sort of agenda against Ronaldo. The guy had 3 goals and 4 shots off the post in Euro 2012.
Then can the same people who said he was poor against spain please watch this video as it will clearly prove you are talking nonsense. He was a constant threat and by far portugal's best player.

Those idiots would shut their eyes and keep telling you how Ronaldo has failed in the Euro 2012, how Portugal should have beaten Germany and Spain and won the trophy, and how Ronaldo kept wasting all the chances and has such a poor tournament.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Man I'm pretty sure lots of you guys have some sort of agenda against Ronaldo. The guy had 3 goals and 4 shots off the post in Euro 2012.
Then can the same people who said he was poor against spain please watch this video as it will clearly prove you are talking nonsense. He was a constant threat and by far portugal's best player.

That's what counts as proof that he had a great game? Great pass around the 7 minute mark aside all that shows is dribbling down blind alleys, flashy passes and wasteful free kicks. I don't think he was awful in the match but it wasn't exactly praiseworthy. Pretty sure Spain would have been happy at Cristiano's decision making in that game, just like Barcelona were in the 2009 final when he tried to do his one man team trick.

 

[Raul Madrid]

Its tough for anyone to have a brillant tournament really unless your in a top side. But ronaldo had a very good tournament. I highlighted the spain match because it seems people have short term memories because as you can see from the video he was a constant threat and clearly portugal's most dangerous player.

True. People are making it sound like he missed sitters against spain or something. The only really bad game I thought he had was vs Denmark. He barely had the ball vs spain as spain had the majority of possession and it was a boring match. Against Germany he wasn't great but not bad either as he created some chances but ultimately didn't receive much service as Germany were the better team comfortably. Even pirlo wasn't his best vs spain and that was because like Ronaldo he didn't have the ball much as spain had it the majority of the time. How can you play at your best when your team barely has the ball, let alone do something creative with it. Could he have done better? Of course, but it is easy to be picky.

 

[Sly]

Fun fact: Postiga actually have 27 goals in 66 games for Portugal.

Ronaldo's goals per game record for Portugal isn't actually that much better than Postiga's.

Postiga is useless. Loved his Panenka against England though. Postiga contributes with nothing to the team. The opinion is unanimous around the 3 big club supporters and that´s hard to achieve. No one wants him around the team, he just plays because we don´t really have other choices (although i consider Almeida better).

Ronaldo´s Euro 2012 performance was hailed by every portuguese Sports pundit and by the majority of the portuguese supporters. I also have the same opinion but i suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We portuguese are unanimous on his praise though. Either way i don´t care if others like him or not, i just want him to help us continue to qualify to the major tournaments and do a decent figure in them (what didn´t happen in other times but we don´t have short memory).

 

[mancan92]

That's what counts as proof that he had a great game? Great pass around the 7 minute mark aside all that shows is dribbling down blind alleys, flashy passes and wasteful free kicks. I don't think he was awful in the match but it wasn't exactly praiseworthy. Pretty sure Spain would have been happy at Cristiano's decision making in that game, just like Barcelona were in the 2009 final when he tried to do his one man team trick.

Mate I think your taking the piss here. Being a constant threat throughout a match creating chances and scaring the life out of the opposition is having a good game. He was constantly fouled. For all the talk of Ronaldo losing his dribbling he was going past the spainsh players for fun and rarely losing the ball. Thats against the eventual champions. The only thing missing from that performance is a goal. The rest was pretty great especially considering the opposition.

 

[united_99]

True. People are making it sound like he missed sitters against spain or something. The only really bad game I thought he had was vs Denmark. He barely had the ball vs spain as spain had the majority of possession and it was a boring match. Against Germany he wasn't great but not bad either as he created some chances but ultimately didn't receive much service as Germany were the better team comfortably. Even pirlo wasn't his best vs spain and that was because like Ronaldo he didn't have the ball much as spain had it the majority of the time. How can you play at your best when your team barely has the ball, let alone do something creative with it. Could he have done better? Of course, but it is easy to be picky.

He wasn't their worst player but he wasn't one of the best either and that's coming from someone who is a Ronaldo fan. How about praising Portugal's defence and midfield who matched Spain in almost every aspect? I can't remember last time a team held Spain to a 0-0 draw over 120 mins. Italy in 2008 probably. It's just a bit disrespectful to the likes of Coentrao, Pepe or Moutinho to praise Ronaldo irrespective if the others have been better in games or not I think.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Mate I think your taking the piss here. Being a constant threat throughout a match creating chances and scaring the life out of the opposition is having a good game. He was constantly fouled. For all the talk of Ronaldo losing his dribbling he was going past the spainsh players for fun and rarely losing the ball. Thats against the eventual champions. The only thing missing from that performance is a goal. The rest was pretty great especially considering the opposition.

I'm not talking the piss, I think we just disagree on what a constant threat is, or what a good game (by his standards anyway) is. That video to me just shows someone who tried to do too much himself instead of doing the right thing and passing to his team. Solo run after solo run without looking close to scoring from it.

 

[Skorenzy]

True. People are making it sound like he missed sitters against spain or something. The only really bad game I thought he had was vs Denmark. He barely had the ball vs spain as spain had the majority of possession and it was a boring match. Against Germany he wasn't great but not bad either as he created some chances but ultimately didn't receive much service as Germany were the better team comfortably. Even pirlo wasn't his best vs spain and that was because like Ronaldo he didn't have the ball much as spain had it the majority of the time. How can you play at your best when your team barely has the ball, let alone do something creative with it. Could he have done better? Of course, but it is easy to be picky.

I can see that being an argument in Pirlo's favour, but how does it work for Cristiano? He's never been one to need possession of the ball to be dangerous... how else did he become such a threat v Barça? Either way he had 7 attempts on goal in that Spain game and none hit the target, that's poor in any context. In fact throughout the tourney he held a shot per game ratio similar to his club form (slightly above 7 shots per game), the only things that differed were the conversion into goals (8% compared to his RM career average of 15%) and his shooting accuracy (24% compared to his RM career average of around 40-45%).

All in all I'd rank it as his 3rd best international performance, but nowhere close to '04 and '06 where he was outstanding and great, respectively.

 

[Raul Madrid]

He wasn't their worst player but he wasn't one of the best either and that's coming from someone who is a Ronaldo fan. How about praising Portugal's defence and midfield who matched Spain in almost every aspect? I can't remember last time a team held Spain to a 0-0 draw over 120 mins. Italy in 2008 probably. It's just a bit disrespectful to the likes of Coentrao, Pepe or Moutinho to praise Ronaldo irrespective if the others have been better in games or not I think.

I agree with what you say. I certainly don't think it was a one man show with just Ronaldo. Their defence was very good and I could not get over how well pepe played for them. Moutinho was good in midfield also and I think nani did well in some games too although he was a bit wasteful. I was just saying Ronaldo was better than some people were saying. People are asking why Ronaldo didn't set the tournament alight and I was just giving some reasons why. Portugal are a good team, but aren't as technically good as a lot of the other big nations. Playing for a technically good team for a player like Ronaldo is a big advantage as we seen with torres winning the top scorer even though he didn't start all the matches and was in his decline and run of bad form.