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Need to continue to believe, says ‘sad’ Ronaldo
PARIS: It was a mixed night for Cristiano Ronaldo, missing a penalty in his 128th appearance for Portugal.
PARIS: It was a mixed night for Cristiano Ronaldo, missing a penalty in his 128th appearance for Portugal.
“Obviously it was a goal to be the most capped international player, and also to be the national team’s top-scorer,” Ronaldo said.
“But obviously I’m a bit sad, because this wasn’t the way I wanted to break this record. The most beautiful way would have been ...,” he added shaking his head.
“Obviously it wasn’t something we wanted,” he said of the result. “We had a lot of chances and we did well, but we weren’t able to finish. I also missed some chances — a penalty and some other chances. But that’s part of football. We need to continue to believe.”
‘HE WILL CONTINUE TO TAKE PENALTIES’
Ronaldo will continue to take penalties for Portugal despite losing his touch from the spot for both club and country, coach Fernando Santos said .
“If there is a penalty in the next game, Cristiano Ronaldo will take it and he will score,” Santos told reporters.
“He is used to scoring goals, he is a winner and he also reacts well when he makes a mistake. That is what we expect from him.”
Left- back Raphael Guerreiro has increased the pressure on Ronaldo’s place as the free kick specialist after scoring with a superbly-taken effort in a 3-0 friendly win over Norway before the tournament when Ronaldo was not playing.
“Cristiano always wants to take t he free kicks and it has always been him who has taken them,” said Santos. “If Raphael had not scored that goal, nobody would be talking about this.”
“We played really well against Austria without scoring and we have to continue with this attitude. We made Austria, who are ranked 10th in the world, look like a small team.”
Santos said Portugal should not be ashamed of “being ugly” and that he had told his family that he would not be coming home until the day after the Euro 2016 final when he expected a party.
“Sometimes, I get the feeling that we are ashamed about being ugly, or not being pretty,” he said. “If we have to be ugly and that brings us efficiency, we have to be ugly. I’m ugly by nature and I don’t mind being even uglier.”
