Two long nights in Portugal gave me a new-found respect for pitchside reporters and an extra-time craving for a bananaIt’s the 90th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo, on a hat‑trick, cuts inside his man and whacks it in the corner of the net to seal Portgual’s 3-1 win against Switzerland in the Nations League. I am reporting pitchside for the Australian TV network Optus Sport. What an honour, to witness the second greatest player of the modern era shine so brightly in front of his adoring home support.Except I don’t see it. As Ronaldo strikes the ball, I am sprinting down five flights of concrete steps. There is a lot of concrete in Porto’s stadium and I am surrounded by it. A...
Portugal captain enters Nations League showdown knowing an undying drive cannot sustain his career for ever‘How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!” Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of many things across his impossibly gilded carer, some more serious than others. But his sheer unbending will remains a remarkable source of strength in his late years. Like Ulysses in the poem, returning home to Ithaca from his glorious travels, there is an element of epic glamour about Ronaldo’s presence as Portugal’s captain in Porto for the Nations League final on Sunday night. Related: Ivan Perisic shows no mercy as Croatia put early dent in Wales’ Euro 2020 hopes Continue reading...
Cristiano Ronaldo’s best performance for Juve in the Champions League, against Atlético, embodied our club’s ‘until the end’ motto – and the men can now go on to win itThe Juventus motto is “fino alla fine” – in other words, until the end. On Tuesday evening the men’s team proved these words are not empty but alive. Juve aspire to be a team who never give up, a team who burn with an indefatigable spirit, and this week it was there for all to see. Related: Cristiano Ronaldo: the king of Europe who has normalised the abnormal The following night, inspired and motivated by the performance of the men’s team, we won 2-1 at Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-final...
This was poised to be a tribute to the great Cristiano before José Mourinho’s side produced a group-stage homage to 1999Well, that was a glorious little blast from the past. And no, Cristiano, not in the way you were hoping. Grit, pluck, a feverish belief in the plan: it seems odd now that just a few weeks back these were precisely the things this Manchester United team seemed to be lacking.Instead of which on a mild, still, occasionally fevered night in Turin United produced a moment of Barcelona-lite, a group stage homage to the triumphs of 1999, turning 1-0 down into 2-1 up in the final four minutes. Related: Own goal seals famous Manchester United comeback win at Juventus Ronaldo's...
Juve’s response to the Ronaldo rape allegations was to call him ‘a great champion’ but the important thing is to judge on factsAs the Uefa Nations League weekender rolls on from Friday into Tuesday it is hard not to luxuriate a little in the glow of international football, to feel fuzzy and loved-up still from that sun-bleached World Cup. The Nations League has been criticised for its fiddly nature but whatever the background noise there is an undying grandeur to these games. Netherlands v Germany remains one of the great European retro-hate matches, and on Monday night Spain, still stung from the summer, still effortlessly talented, will host England in Andalusia.There is one significant absence from this spectacle. Cristiano Ronaldo...