The Portuguese team has been drawn into a group with the Czech Republic, Türkiye and Georgia. Roberto Martinez’s team have just experienced a perfect qualifying campaign, winning all 10 matches, with Ronaldo playing in 9 of these matches.
39-year-old Ronaldo is the person with the most titles in the history of the European Championship. After winning their only championship title in the Euro tournament eight years ago, defeating France 1-0 after extra time, Ronaldo and Portugal are looking for their second European crown in this tournament.
Ahead of their opening match of the campaign against the Czech Republic on June 18, former Major League Soccer (MLS) star Mosse told Essentially Sports that the Portuguese team has a star-studded squad, Therefore, veteran Ronaldo does not need to be present to make a difference.
Mosse shared: “I myself still have doubts at the highest level of football, can Cristiano Ronaldo create a breakthrough for the Portuguese team? I don’t think so. The bad news for them is that Ronaldo is 39 years old and plays in a low tournament in Asia (Saudi Pro League). It is completely different from the top European tournaments.
The better news is that with the current Portuguese team, they have so many other talents. They don’t need Ronaldo to be great, in other words to “carry the team”. I don’t know if Ronaldo will make the team stronger or weaker. I think, the Portuguese team also has Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Rafael Leao, Vitinha and Joao Felix, along with other good players playing in major European tournaments. So they are considered one of the candidates for the Euro championship title without Ronaldo messing up the squad.”
Despite the detractors, Cristiano Ronaldo is the player with the most titles in international men’s football, with a record of 128 goals in 206 appearances in all competitions. He is also the only player to appear in the past five European Championships. Ronaldo made his debut in the tournament in 2004, when Portugal was the host country and lost 0-1 to Greece in the final, in which the 19-year-old scored two goals and had as many assists in six matches.
Four years later, Ronaldo scored once and assisted three times in three matches before losing 3-2 to Germany in the quarterfinals. At Euro 2012, he scored three goals in five matches but unfortunately the European Selecao lost to eventual champions Spain on penalties in the semi-finals.
The Portuguese team won Euro 2016, with Ronaldo scoring three goals and providing many assists in seven matches. In the process, he became the first player to score in four European Championships. Four years later, Ronaldo scored five goals and assisted once in four matches as Portugal were eliminated with a 1-0 loss in the round of 16 to Belgium.
In total, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner set a record of 14 goals at Euros in 25 matches and also scored 41 goals (in 44 matches) in Euro qualifiers, another record. Ronaldo is also about to become a player who sets a record of appearing in six Euro tournaments.
