And the day came when we all saw Cristiano Ronaldo cry, after missing a penalty, apologize, after scoring one, and finally win again. This happened on the night of Round of 16 at Euro 2024, which saw Slovenia and Portugal face each other who will play the quarter-finals against France who beat Belgium thanks to an own goal.
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Not that we had never seen Ronaldo cry, especially at the European Football Championship. He had cried bitter tears twenty years ago in the European final lost against Greece in 2004. Twenty years ago CR7 was not twenty years old and those tears they were very different, the result of a defeat in the first major international showcase with his national team for a player who was already phenomenal at the time.
More tears, due to an injury, at the European Championship that Portugal won. It was 2016. An unforgettable Ronaldo, now an adult, who from the sidelines encouraged his teammates in the final. The opposite happened this time with all his teammates surrounding an inconsolable CR7 who did not stop crying during the interval between the two extra times. That penalty could have decided the match, giving the victory to Portugal before reaching the penalty shootout that gave it to them anyway.
And of course Rolando went to take the new penalty too. This time he scored and turned to the stands with an apologetic gesture towards the Portuguese fans. From then on, the hero became Diogo Costa, the Portuguese goalkeeper, who saved three penalties from the Slovenian players, while three Portuguese scored.
Cristiano always seems to cry a little with anger, as if it were impossible for him to accept that he is fallible like the others. This time, however, they seem to be more bitter and more real tears, tears of a 39-year-old champion certainly at the end of his career who is unable to bring his team to the lead, an advantage that would mean qualification for the quarterfinals. It almost seemed that Ronaldo felt human and not extraterrestrial, even a little humiliated by the mistake in front of the world and, we add, by the thought of not having played a great game, of no longer being the fulcrum of the team and the solution to every problem. CR7’s last dance is not over, but it is certainly accompanied by tears that, for once, make him seem less of a robot than usual.
Source: Vanity Fair
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