In the first round of the European Championship that ended earlier, Portugal eliminated Slovenia 3:0 on penalties and reached the quarterfinals.
First, Ronaldo's goal drought clearly shows that Ronaldo's is not what it used to be.
In all three group games, Ronaldo started all of them, but the unprecedented 0 goals in the group stage of the tournament clearly showed that Ronaldo was at the top.
Even if there are a number of crazy fans rushing into the stadium to seek a photo with C in every game, even if Ronaldo gives up the opportunity to score and assist B Fei, whether it is physical or self-confidence, Ronaldo has self-doubt for the first time.
Now Portugal coach Martinez's biggest trouble is how to arrange Ronaldo, the starting is certain, but how to match personnel to fill Ronaldo's defensive holes, and how to make the substitute lineup in the last 30 minutes, creating a possibility that the starting center forward is unlikely to achieve.
From Rangnick's success in coaching Austria to Manchester United's contract extension just given to Ten Hag, this summer, all the evidence proves that Ronaldo's return is the biggest reason for Manchester United's chaos.
In the Portuguese national team, from Sanchez in the past to Martinez now, they are not willing to become a blackface bag, so the Manchester United story of the Portuguese national team can only end when Ronaldo withdraws from the national team.
At least so far, this point in time can be understood as the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
This is also destined for Portugal to basically miss the championship in this European Cup.
Second, the core problem of Portugal's half is still the lack of finishing ability.
As soon as the game started, Portugal launched a high-pressure game, and Slovenia was in front of the goal, in fact, Martinez's choice was very risky, because although the opponent experienced three consecutive draws in the group stage, Slovenia's style of play was very strong, and they were also the team that could suppress England at half-time.
In the first 30 minutes, although Leao caused yellow cards in succession for the opposition defence, Slovenia's calm response clearly showed that they are still different from a pure counter-attacking team like Georgia.
After 30 minutes, Portugal's fitness declined, and Slovenia's midfield showed hardness, continuous counter-attacks, and pushed Portugal's three lines back by an average of 20 meters, and it was clear that the two-goal defeat to Georgia in the group stage and the two-goal defeat against Slovenia in the warm-up match in March made Portugal a bogey.
The first half's backdrop was a drawdown for Portugal, with Slovenia playing at a high level, especially with defensive aggression.
Zero shots on target in the half shows that we see that the Portuguese team is not much different from the past 20 years, and the Portuguese football that has been thundering and not raining has always lacked a real center forward heritage, and Ronaldo's emergence is just a perfect fig leaf.
Third, Ronaldo's loss shows that he is indeed old.
At the beginning of the second half, Portugal continued to attack.
In the 61st minute, Sesko missed a single shot after forcibly overtaking Pepe, which made people sigh that the years were ruthless.
C Ropepe's Portuguese fulcrum around the eighties really made Coach Martinez hinder everywhere, and the Portuguese midfielder who is both a father and a mother is really tired.
In fact, when the knockout round of the cup was played to 70 minutes, it was still 0:0, because all the physical exhaustion of both sides and forward-looking, although everything was still possible, but it has increasingly pointed to extra time or even penalty shootouts.
In the 89th minute, Ronaldo's single knife was saved by Oblak, and extra time came.
Ronaldo still played in extra time, even if he was a black fan, he had to give Ronaldo a round of applause.
Because of the total physical loss and deformation of both sides, the defense of both sides became loose in overtime.
In the 13th minute of extra time, Jota broke up the Slovenian defense alone, and Orsato blew for a penalty, which was courageous.
Ronaldo's penalty was saved by Oblak, Oblak's goal-line skills are still the best in the world, and Ronaldo is indeed not as good as it used to be.
Cristiano Ronaldo is indeed old, and the fact that 20 shots on goal in the European Cup did not result in a single goal speaks for itself.
In the 25th minute of extra time, Pepe made another mistake, Sesko's one-on-one was saved, and Portugal escaped.
The penalty shoot-out belonged to Portugal goalkeeper Diego. Costa, who made three consecutive saves from penalties better than Todo, made Portugal to the quarter-finals.
From the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to Serbia, Croatia, and now Slovenia, Eastern European football is actually seriously underrated, and the most important reason for their current appearance is that people have to bow their heads under the roof due to economic difficulties.
Today's Slovakia is the team I have seen with the highest tactical literacy since the start of the European Championship, and they are fully deserving of the quarter-finals of the European Championship and leaving with their heads held high.
For Portugal, their promotion today is indeed quite lucky, even if they reach the quarterfinals, their future is seriously underwhelmed, on the one hand, because of the lack of resilience in Portuguese football, on the other hand, it does show that this team needs to complete a thorough metabolism.
Cristiano Ronaldo's departure, at the end of the European Championship, should enter the countdown.