Cristiano delivers on the big stage again
Print Edition
LOVE him loathe him, there is no denying Cristiano Ronaldo delivers when it matters.
Just over five weeks after he struck the decisive penalty shootout kick to win the UEFA Champions League final for Real Madrid against city rival Atletico, Ronaldo scored one goal and created another to send Portugal into the Euro 2016 final with a 2-0 victory over Wales in Lyon.
The game had been billed as the “Battle of the Galacticos” with Ronaldo up against his Welsh Real Madrid teammate Gareth Bale.
Both Ronaldo and Bale are more than just key players for their national sides — they are the fulcrum of everything they try to do in their attacking play, the source for goal-scoring and goal-creation.
The unified, and entirely predictable, message from both camps before the game was that the encounter in the Stade de Lyonnaise would be about “eleven v eleven” and not “Ronaldo v Bale”. But that did not stop the world’s focus being on the two players and which one would shine the most.
The answer, after 90 minutes, was pretty clear.
Ronaldo scored his country’s opening goal in the 50th minute with a superb header and three minutes later it was his low shot which was turned in by Nani to make it 2-0.
Bale had done more work, had more shots on target and been more of a threat in the opening half. But it was Ronaldo who delivered the killer blows.
Now the inevitable Ronaldo narrative will turn to the man who he is so often compared with — Lionel Messi.
The Barcelona striker, like Ronaldo, has famously failed to win a trophy with his country, his latest failure coming last month in the Copa America.
Expect it to be denied, but make no mistake, Ronaldo would love nothing more than to get one up on Messi.
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