Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial | Part 9: Eurostar

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The road to Cristiano Ronaldo’s first major international trophy was one littered with obstacles.

From media controversy to missed penalties, barracking from fans, extra-time drama, a thrilling comeback and injury heartache, it was a story that had it all. And that’s not covering his entire career of more than a decade and in excess of 100 caps. 

All of that happened during the month Ronaldo and the Portugal squad spent in France at Euro 2016.

Paulo Bento managed to limp on after the 2014 World Cup debacle but fumbled his stay of execution. A 1-0 defeat to Albania in the opening Euro 2016 qualifier led to his sacking.

MORE: Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial | Part 8: ‘It hurts not to be champion’

After the big-name appointments of Bento’s predecessors Carlos Queiroz and Luiz Felipe Scolari, coupled with the fact that Portuguese coaches were becoming some of the most sought-after tacticians in Europe, the decision to install the veteran Fernando Santos felt a little underwhelming.

Santos boasted vast experience and the rare distinction of having coached each of Portugal’s big three, winning the top flight in 1998/99 with Porto prior to stints at Sporting CP and Benfica. He also had recent international experience, having guided Greece — the Selecao’s Euro 2004 tormentors – to the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time in their history in 2014.

One consequence of that was Santos preparing to start his new role from a distance. Prior to Greece’s last-16 defeat to Costa Rica on penalties, he was sent off for dissent and hit with an eight-match ban by FIFA that was reduced to six on appeal.

For anyone who has witnessed Santos vary his tone between disinterest and weary disdain during Portugal press conferences, it feels implausible that he ever got quite so angry. It at least meant that on some level he chimed with the simmering disquiet around a national team that risked squandering the peak of an all-time talent.

Fernando Santos

As assistant Ilidio Vale took up duties on the bench and Santos made notes in the stands, Portugal got back to winning ways. In a foreshadowing of the fine margins on which they would operate in France, they won seven qualifiers in succession all by a one-goal margin.

Ronaldo scored five times during this period, including a masterful quickfire hat-trick in a 3-2 win away to Armenia. His new international boss was unquestionably a pragmatist but this did not mean a return to the bad old days of the Queiroz era. Kindred spirit Ricardo Quaresma was back in the fold and he provided the cross for Ronaldo to head an injury-time winner against Denmark in Santos’ first competitive game in charge.

MORE: MESSI & RONALDO: DESTINATION MUNDIAL | HOME

At Euro 2016, Ronaldo moved into a centre-forward role to spearhead a gritty, functional team built to his specifications. The merits of such an approach were clear but perhaps not suited to a clash with the tournament’s romantic outsiders.

Iceland, backed by their boisterous thunder-clapping supporters, were Portugal’s first opponents. Nani slotted in Andre Gomes’ low cross to put them ahead after the half-hour but a wretched lapse five minutes into the second half let Birkir Bjarnason in to equalise.

Ronaldo was unable to find a way through again for Portugal and ended the night arguing with the referee after the final whistle, before telling reporters that the romance of a nation with a population of 335,000 taking a point off one of Europe’s football giants absolutely was not for him.

“It was a lucky night for them. I thought they’d won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end. It was unbelievable,” he said. “When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion, shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition.” 

Sensing the star attraction might be particularly highly strung, Austria’s fans flocked to their game against Portugal at the Parc des Princes in the mood for mischief. At various points in the match, they broke out into chants of “Messi! Messi! Messi!”. The brouhaha was ramped up by Ronaldo thumping the post with a second-half penalty and the game ending goalless.

While international media were happy to lap up the fallout from those on-field travails, sections of the Portuguese press were intent on digging into the personal lives of Ronaldo and his family. The tabloid Correia de Manha took its typically sensationalist approach to this beat and, when confronted by one of the publication’s reporters on a team walk prior to the crunch game with Hungary, Ronaldo took his microphone and threw it in a lake.

It was not an episode to distract him from the task at hand as Portugal flirted with a second consecutive group-stage exit. In a chaotic game against Hungary giving as much entertainment value as their other matches at the tournament combined, Ronaldo hauled his team back from the brink. Three times he helped them come from behind, first by setting up Nani and then with an improvised backheel flick and a trademark header.

A trio of draws were enough for Portugal to secure a last-16 meeting with Croatia, who had been among the most impressive teams in the round-robin phase. Santos managed to clog up Luka Modric and his playmaking counterparts and, in extra time, Quaresma nodded in to complete a smash-and-grab when Ronaldo’s shot was saved.

Robert Lewandowski gave Poland an early lead in the quarter-final but breakout star Renato Sanches had Santos’ men level by the break. The deadlock remained on this occasion and it was down to penalties. There would be no repeat of his Euro 2012 error as Ronaldo stepped up first. Joao Moutinho, who missed against Spain, received a pep talk from his captain and dispatched his kick like all five of Portugal’s takers.

Rui Patricio saved from Jakub Blaszczykowski, leaving Quaresma to seal a place in the sem-finals where Portugal did something novel. Second-half goals from Ronaldo and Nani against Wales meant they actually won a game inside 90 minutes.

And so to Paris and the Stade de France for a delicious piece of symmetry. When a teenaged and tear-stained Ronaldo came up short in the final of Euro 2004, he was playing for the much-fancied hosts against dogged and defensively sound opponents who prevailed. Now, against Les Bleus, Portugal were playing the Greece role.

MORE: Is Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Manchester United? Piers Morgan interview fallout and what happens next

Not that this was any sort of tidily constructed fairy tale. Ronaldo’s dreams of a starring role on his country’s biggest night went up in smoke when he was on the receiving end of a robust early tackle from Dimitri Payet. He tried to continue a couple of times but his knee would not cooperate. Twelve years on and more tears.

Portugal dug in, with Pepe in totemic form at centre-back and Rui Patricio like greased lightning between the posts. Ronaldo cajoled and gesticulated on the touchline. Again, detractors saw this as part of his unflinching desire to grasp the spotlight, irrespective of circumstances.

The truth was a lot more practical. Santos had lost his voice and Ronaldo was simply amplifying as many of his coach’s instructions as possible. The star striker with the bust knee and the tactician who couldn’t communicate somehow had a job to finish together.

Palpable tension gripped the arena as extra time began and it seemed to hamstring France. They were in Portugal’s house now. This was where Santos’ miserly draw specialists dished out their punishment. In Ronaldo’s absence, Eder — a striker who flopped at Swansea City before being rehabilitated via a loan spell with Lille that season – cut infield and arrowed home a left-footed shot from 25 yards in the 109th minute.

More tears from Ronaldo and, this time, glory. “Forget all the other awards and trophies, this is the happiest day of my career, this is the one I was missing,” he told teammates in the dressing room afterwards. “We did it. Nobody believed in Portugal, but the truth is we did it and we are in the history of Portugal.”

Credits and acknowledgements

The Sporting News was fortunate enough to speak to a number of experts on Portuguese and Argentine football to enhance the Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial series. We would like to thank the following people for their time and input – please do check out their superb work.

Santi Bauza: Argentinian football journalist and content creator, whose credits include Copa 90, CNN and Hand of Pod.
Dan Edwards: Freelance football journalist based in Argentina, formerly the long-time South America correspondent for Goal.com.
Peter Coates: Editor of Golazo Argentino.
Simon Curtis: Portuguese football expert and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter. 
Aaron Barton: Creator of English-language Portuguese football destination Proxima Journada.
Tom Kundert: Creator of PortuGOAL and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter 
Joshua Robinson & Jonathan Clegg: Wall Street Journal sports reporters and authors of Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two GOATs, and the Era That Remade the World’s Game

READ: PART 10 | MUTINY (Published Saturday, November 19 17:00 GMT/12:00 ET)

Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial pt 10

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