The Portuguese star began his adventure in the big tournaments during the UEFA Euro 2024, then as a youth player from Manchester United. On Tuesday, he began his campaign at the sixth European Championship – an undisputed historic tournament – of his career.
Very inflated
He could be one of the heroes of the sixth group match.
In the 87th minute, in an unsatisfactory 1-1 draw for the favourites, he jumped efficiently and high to pass Joao Cancelo from the right wing. CR7’s header hit the post, but after a while Diogo Jota finished off the shot.
Although almost the entire stadium in Leipzig was jubilant, it quickly turned into panic. Referee Marco Guida, after a quick consultation with the VAR car, decided to revert to this procedure and whistled Ronaldo for an offside position.
Although it seemed unclear at first glance, the replays and, above all, the automatic offside technique showed clearly – the Portuguese captain was a few or maybe a dozen centimeters or so closer to the goal than the Czech defender.
Italian journalist Tancredi Palmieri jokingly tweeted after the match, saying: “Cristiano Ronaldo’s left arm was so swollen in the gym that it was offside.”
He has to work on his positioning
And Ronaldo? He has to work on his timing in the upcoming matches. Against the Czech Republic, he broke the offside line three times, more than any player in the first round of the Euro 2024 group stage.
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