This Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo recorded his eighth consecutive game without a goal in the final stages of a major competition when he remained empty-handed against Slovenia in the Euro 2024 Round of 16 game, in which he even missed a penalty.
After scoring on his 2022 World Cup debut against Ghana, the Portugal captain failed to score in the remaining four matches of the tournament, and also failed to score in the first four matches of the 2024 European Championship.
Just eight games and just 592 minutes, excluding discounts, without goals.
Ronaldo scored a penalty in Portugal’s 3–2 win over Ghana and did not score again in the competition held in Qatar, and also started in the 2–0 win over Uruguay and the 1–2 win over South Korea, leaving in the 82nd and 65th minutes respectively.
The Portuguese striker did not respond well to being substituted against the South Koreans, and then Portuguese coach Fernando Santos benched him for the Round of 16 match, replacing him with Goncalo Ramos, who scored a hat-trick. Switzerland (6-1).
Ronaldo only came on in the 73rd minute with the score 5:1, but it was not he who scored the sixth goal, but Rafael Leão.
Naturally, Fernando Santos again “sat” Ronaldo in the “quarters” against Morocco, and this time he brought him on early, in the 65th minute, at a time when Portugal were losing 1-0. The result did not change until the end.
Portugal lost in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, and Fernando Santos, who “missed” Cristiano Ronaldo in the “eleven”, was sacked, replaced by the Spaniard Roberto Martinez, who made it clear from the start that he was “Ronaldo and 10 others”.
Unsurprisingly, the 39-year-old Portuguese captain started Euro 2024 in the eleven and played 90 minutes of Portugal’s debut match, which culminated in a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic thanks to a goal in added time from substitute Francisco Conceicao.
In the second match against Turkey (3-0), Ronaldo repeated the full 90 minutes and again remained “empty”, this time giving an assist to Bruno Fernandes, during which the two looked isolated in front of the “face” of the defender – the net.
The group stage is closing, and although Portugal has already secured first place in Group F, Martinez has replaced almost the entire team, but still retained Ronaldo, who came on in the 66th minute of the match against Georgia, already with the Portuguese losing 2-0.
For the first time in his career, the current Al Nasr player has finished the group stage of a major tournament without a goal since Euro 2004, but despite that he returned to the starting eleven for Monday’s clash with Slovenia and has failed to score for the eighth consecutive game in a final.
Cristiano Ronaldo even converted a penalty in the 105th minute with the score tied at zero, but the “giant” Oblak stole his first goal of the tournament. He then won the penalty shootout, but this goal does not count in the statistics.
The next attempt will come on Friday, the day Portugal face France in Hamburg in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, with Ronaldo likely in the eleven.