Cristiano Ronaldo’s meltdown united the nation (Picture: Getty Images)
Let’s be honest, it hasn’t been great has it?
Euro 2024, as a tournament, hasn’t provided England fans with much joy so far.
The team have mustered less than a goal per game despite being able to call upon some of the best attacking players in the world.
Meanwhile, manager Gareth Southgate, once praised for uniting the country behind the Three Lions for the first time in a generation, has faced scrutiny from the first whistle and even some of our top players have complained about the negativity that surrounds them with criticism coming from both pundits and fans – reportedly using the justifiable anger from supporters as motivation.
But then, just as England fans started to think there’d be nothing to enjoy at this tournament, a moment came that brought the nation together in a way that only football can, with one kick of the ball, every supporter united in a moment of joy and relief.
And no, I am not talking about Jude Bellingham’s stunning last gasp overhead kick to save England’s blushes and take us to extra time against the mighty Slovakia – I’m talking about Cristiano Ronaldo’s missed penalty in extra time against Slovenia.
More importantly, the tears that trickled down the 39 year old’s chiselled face as seemingly every single neutral observer lapped up the former Man United star’s failure on such a massive scale.
It’s perhaps fitting that Schadenfreude is the highlight of a tournament being played in Germany, but you might think that, with Ronaldo being a player who has given football fans so much joy over the years between his time at Man U that saw him described as one of the best players in English football history, to his blockbuster performances for Real Madrid and Juventus, we might be willing to cut him some slack.
Nah.
We wanted him to be miserable, and we enjoyed it when he was.
As for why, I reckon it’s obvious.
It was collective grief for the Portugal players (Picture: Getty Images)
The 39–year-old Ronaldo who missed that penalty last night, something he went on to describe as a moment which left him at ‘rock bottom’, isn’t the dazzling footballer that entertained fans across two decades despite cementing his status as one of the best, if not the best, player to ever play the game.
Frankly, we are all sick of his selfishness. That singular, individual, mercurial talent has morphed into a man who thinks the other stars in his teams are merely extras, bit-parts who distract from the main event – him.
In a team sport that is increasingly focused on using tactics to unite your best XI and make them greater than the sum of their parts, Ronaldo is now a jaded soloist who detracts from others.
Watching him against Slovenia last night felt like watching the most tantrum-prone child at an under 9’s game – he insisted he take every free kick despite scoring 1 in his last 60 at major tournaments, he threw his arms in the end and screamed every time a team mate took a shot rather than passing him the ball.
Every pre-free kick pose made me root for his downfall (Picture: Getty Images)
With every shot the Portugal captain sent skyward, with every ludicrous pre-free kick pose, you willed him to fail, not least because, when those tears rolled down his face after Slovenia’s Oblak saved his penalty, you felt it was less sorrow for the consequences his miss would have for his team, and more a selfish pity for what this could mean for Brand ‘CR7’.
After his penalty miss, teammates ran over to Ronaldo, and put their arms around his impossibly broad shoulders as he trudged around the Deutsche Bank Park in tears, seemingly unaware there were still another 15 minutes of extra time remaining.
But while Portugal wallowed in collective grief, on social media it was a collective outpouring of laughter, as we celebrated with memes, screenshots and jokes, while pointing out that with half the game left, Ronaldo could put his ego aside to try and actually help his team progress.
Outside of Jude Bellingham’s goal, England haven’t had much to celebrate (Picture: REUTERS/John Sibley)
And, to be fair, Ronaldo had his moment – after the game ended 0-0, he was given an opportunity to make amends, and he did, scoring from the penalty spot he had just missed from to help Portugal progress on penalties, although, in a blow to his ego, it was more down to the heroics of his keeper Diogo Costa, who pulled off three consecutive saves to deny Slovenia.
It may be a further blow to that ego that, this morning, he is still trending across social media, not for helping his country continue in their hunt for silverware, but for helping to unite our nation, England, in a moment of joy, as we celebrated a man who embodies everything we’ve come to dislike about the modern game.
The greed, the excess, the ego, the selfishness.
And so, even as England fans reflected on our poor performances, for one beautiful moment, we were united in mocking a man who has travelled the world performing at the top of the game, doing what we have seen England players, even our manager, do at major tournaments for years – miss penalties in crucial moments.
And it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving player.
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