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March 13, 2024
We're just a few months away from the EURO 2024 kickoff in Germany and the bar is set high for both the Portuguese National Team and Cristiano Ronaldo himself. After having won the tournament nearly 8 years ago, the Seleção is definitely feeling stronger now...
The upcoming European Championships campaign, a competition set to be hosted by Germany, will almost certainly be the final competition in which Cristiano Ronaldo is a part of the Portuguese squad as he will be 43 when the 2028 event rolls around. This year's EURO 2024 tournament will represent Ronaldo's sixth time as part of the Selecão. There have been a host of impressive campaigns in the past which could be built on in the summer...
Cristiano Ronaldo - Dribbling is breathing:
Portugal is well amongst the frontrunners for this year's competition in Germany, although they are not quite the outright favourites. Besides England and France, they are seen as one of the most likely teams to claim glory according to the major bookmakers.
For example, BetVictor offers Portugal at 8/1 to win their second-ever EURO title. Like many reputable sites, they have put forward a range of EURO betting offers including free bet bonuses alongside their markets for Ronaldo's final tournament.
The predictions are bound to fluctuate regularly before Ronaldo's final European Championship tournament. Regardless of where Portugal is positioned in the odds in June, the entire national setup will be highly motivated to secure a fairytale ending to Ronaldo's career on the European scene.
While Portugal's potential to add further glory, this year is not clear-cut, they will at least be able to savour one summer of international glory from the Ronaldo era, which came back in 2016.
Portugal entered EURO 2016 as one of the lesser-fancied teams behind the likes of France, Italy and Germany, although a favourable knockout stage run saw them reach the final against Les Blues after avoiding the strongest nations.
That little boy from Funchal had a dream ✨🇵🇹 @Cristiano #TeamPortugal #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/sUI4AsV3PZ
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) July 10, 2022
The Seleção finished third in the group stage and only beat Wales in normal time throughout the entire tournament, yet it was them who got the better of France with a single goal by Éder in added time of the final.
Portugal proved that year that competition football is about winning at any cost. Ronaldo's team may need to deploy similar tactics of being solid defensively and grinding wins against the strongest teams in 2024.
The EURO 2004 campaign saw Ronaldo make his name known to the footballing world on his major tournament debut. He was one of the standout stars as the Seleção sent Spain home in the groups, and defeated England and The Netherlands en route to the final.
Greece ultimately produced the biggest shock by beating Portugal in the final, but that competition still stands as one of Ronaldo's greatest major tournaments for his nation.
Besides the two standout European summers where Portugal played in the final, there have been three other campaigns in which the team was spearheaded by Ronaldo.
EURO 2008 saw Portugal exit in the quarters to Germany in arguably Ronaldo's most forgettable campaign as he netted just once.
In 2012 he was much more impressive as he netted a vital brace against the Dutch to send his team to the knockouts, before scoring the only goal in the last eight against Czechia. The Seleção lost in the semi-final on penalties to Spain that year.
Cristiano Ronaldo's numbers for Portugal are nothing short of a JOKE 🤯🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/a4XqCrSJu3
— OneFootball (@OneFootball) March 7, 2024
EURO 2020 saw Portugal go out in the round of 16 for the first time, despite Ronaldo's impressive catalogue of five goals in just four games. Those goals helped Ronaldo to set a new record for the leading goalscorer in the history of the competition and improved his already impressive general international scoring stats too.
Portugal's European Championship performances throughout the Ronaldo era have been generally impressive. They reached the last four 60% of the time showing they are often involved in the latter stages, so they can be expected to be in the mix for Ronaldo's final offering in 2024.
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Al Nassr is on March 15 for the Saudi Pro League, against Al Ain. You can watch Al Ahli vs Al Nassr, Atletico Madrid vs Celta Inter, Aston Villa vs Ajax, PSG vs Nice, Brighton vs AS Roma and Borussia Dortmund vs PSV, all matches provided from our live sports game pages.
Al Nassr next game:
Al Ahli vs Al Nassr kick-off time (15-03-2023):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+7: 02:00
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+4.30: 23:30
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) | UTC/GMT+2: 21:00
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 20:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 19:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 16:00
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 15:00
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 12:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / uefa.com / 90min.com
