Cristiano Ronaldo Makes History with Sixth European Championship Appearance
Jun 20, 2024
During Tuesday's encounter versus the Czech Republic, Cristiano Ronaldo once again made history by becoming the first male athlete to compete in six European Championships.
Since making his debut at the Portugal-hosted Euro 2004 tournament, when the hosts advanced to the final before falling to an underdog Greece, Ronaldo, 39, has participated in every competition.
Lukas Provod gave the Czechs the lead just beyond the hour, but Portugal pulled off a stunning comeback win. Portugal tied the score after 69 minutes with an own goal by Robin Hranac, but Francisco Conceicao, a replacement, won it in injury time.
Ronaldo, who broke the record for most goals in the Saudi Pro League with 35 goals for Al Nassr in the just-finished season, was a threat all through, even if he was unable to surpass his record of 14 goals at the Euros.
Jindrich Stanek, the Czech goalkeeper, made a number of saves to prevent the Portuguese, and Ronaldo in particular, from winning the game and controlling over three quarters of the ball possession.
After the game, Czech coach Ivan Hasek praised Ronaldo's durability and effort.
"It's amazing that he can be so effective and dangerous in every game at his age." Hasek remarked, "He truly demonstrated his qualities." "Congratulations; he's among the greatest of all time."
With five goals, Ronaldo shared first place in the Euro 2020 scoring race with fellow Czech striker Patrik Schick, who competed on Tuesday. Ronaldo has previously scored in the tournament's 2008 and 2012 editions against the Czech Republic.
After making his debut for Portugal in August 2003 as an 18-year-old under Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has scored 130 goals overall in 208 appearances.
Despite being a member of the team that won the title in 2016, Ronaldo was forced to sit out the majority of the 1-0 victory over the home team, France, as he sustained an injury early in the match.
There were other Portugal players who made history that evening besides Ronaldo.
Defender Pepe, who is 41 years and 113 days old, surpassed Hungary custodian Gabor Kiraly to become the oldest player to appear in a European Championship. When Kiraly faced Belgium in the round of 16 of the 2016 European Championship, he was 40 years and 86 days old.
It happened only a few days after Lamine Yamal of Spain made history by being the youngest participant in the competition. At 16 years, 338 days, the winger played in Spain's 3-0 group-stage victory over Croatia.
When Pepe, a Brazilian born in November 2007, made his Portugal debut while still playing for Real Madrid, he was 24 years old. Throughout his 138 Portugal appearances, he has scored eight goals and received 25 yellow cards. His lone red card was during Portugal's first World Cup 2014 match vs. Germany.
Only teammate Ronaldo has participated in as many games in five European Championships as Pepe, who plays club football for Portuguese powerhouse Porto.
