Cristiano Ronaldo’s Fitness Again Concerning Portugal, 2 Years on

Much might have changed between Lisbon in 2014 and Milan two years later, but when the final blow was delivered, the symmetry was crystal clear.

Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to score from the penalty spot and removed his shirt to celebrate the confirmation that the Champions League trophy would return to the Bernabeu with Real Madrid, at the expense of near-neighbours Atletico.

That, for Madridistas and fans back home in Portugal, was a welcome sight. It won’t, however, paper over the other close similarity between Ronaldo’s role in the finals of 2014 and 2016. In both years, the team talisman had been unusually quiet in the 120 minutes leading up to him placing the ball on the spot.

Both times, El Real had their happy ending regardless. Portugal may well worry, though, with increasing parallels between the shape in which he approached the 2014 World Cup and the nick he’s in now, with just a fortnight to go until the Selecao’s Euro 2016 opener against Iceland in Saint Etienne.

The fretting has already started to irritate national coach Fernando Santos, it seems, if his words to the media after Sunday night’s comfortable friendly win over Norway are anything to go by. “I don’t understand why we speak so little about the game and we always speak about Cristiano Ronaldo,” the coach said, as reported here by O Jogo.

Santos went on, of course, to answer his own question, describing his captain as “a fundamental piece of this team” and as “the best player in the world.”

Portugal had swept a pretty average Norway team aside with ease, and the locums had done their jobs. Ricardo Quaresma, Ronaldo’s former Sporting Clube de Portugal stablemate, had scored one and laid on another for Eder, while the coveted Raphael Guerreiro had a goal of his own direct from a free-kick that he took in the skipper’s absence.

The coach knows, though, that stiffer tests are to come, with Iceland followed by a meeting with dark horses Austria, who were hugely impressive in qualification. So that’s why he spoke about the need to “continue to believe that we can win” should Ronaldo be absent at any stage.

There appears to be no genuine panic, either inside or outside the camp, just yet. Still, Ronaldo’s performance …

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