Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens talk about Cristiano Ronaldo’s involvement in Portugal’s quarterfinal defeat to Morocco and Fernando Santos’ decision to keep him on bench in the first half.
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33 Comments
“CR7 the LION is injured not dead”
End of May CR7 was player of the season for United, till end of June he had 31 goals in 49 appearances club/country combined… all of sudden he comes back from break in August and he is a finished product, he can’t finish, he can’t press and all the garbage was thrown left/right/up/down to belittle the great man, seems extremely well coordinated… Ronaldo has never pressed in his life, he makes the most expensive commodity “ball in the back of net” a joke… it’s criminal how the press pushed on the pressing issue… Here comes ETH, he did which no manager could imagine, he made him feel like a championship player, think about from CR7 perspective 31 goals, GOAT, and all of sudden you are behind the bench and Elanga is starting ahead of you, all of sudden you have become a garbage finisher, against City you want to keep him because you respect him, against Spurs you want to bring him on… ETH completely lost his head, and he did exactly what Media wanted, the villain they were portraying for years he was giving it a face and in result more clickbaits more revenue for the media houses, imagine every article, every video getting clicked by CR7 fans and anti-Ronaldo maniacs who were waiting for this for decades, it’s a fuel to fire 🔥 and the one who paid the price is poor Ronaldo, the mountain, the lion who stood strong rattled… Ronaldo wanted to move on from ETH nightmare but no it’s not over Santos got the wind and all of sudden the player who has carried your team for 18 years has become a liability and right at the critical moment you did exactly did what media wanted for the click bait, benched Ronaldo and all of sudden Ramos became the new Lionel Messi for Portugal in one game against poor Swiss team, it’s sad and frustrating to witness the World against Ronaldo but given the fighter he has been, he will not give up, he will come back strong and will add more goals and trophies 🏆, always remember he is a lion, he is injured not dead!
Funny enough, I can see Ronaldo playing another world cup Vs Messi playing another. The way Messi talks i think he's cool with retiring soon to the MLS
Totally agree.
People forget that earlier this year Portugal beat Switzerland 4-0 with Ronaldo starting. They aren’t a good match for Portugal. Dropping him in the quarters makes no sense and Santos didn’t get a single tune out of Silva because of how he played him and then dropping Cancelo? Really? Shameful from the coach.
Gab reminds me of a deluded ronaldo fan, blaming the team for not getting him the ball. Ronaldo doesn't move. He doesn't work hard. Gab doesn't know soccer very much. Ronaldo is at fault for not getting on the ball.
the only way we can know for sure is if morroco accept rematch ?
Are we sure the green goblin wasn't talking to cr7 when he said " In spite of everything you've done for them, eventually they will hate you. Why bother ? " ?
What if the coach keeps Ronaldo on the pitch ? The same People will say today that the coach lack personality other wise in regards Of ronaldo season, he did not deserve to start. The coach shows a great respect to Ronaldo but like we know, when it s not all about him then it s nothing.
shouldve started ramos AND ronaldo together. 4-4-2! when ronaldo came on they were double sometime triple teaming him. at the least his presence wouldve freed up ramos
Definetely wrong . He should have played all his offensive powers at the same time. Rafael leao left, Ronaldo middle, Goncalo right. Fernandez, Silva and Felix midfield. Silva and Fernandez deep.
the player who replaced him scored a hat trick. correct decision to bench him
Gab is on a sorry mission to try and defend Ronaldo at every turn..It is pathetic actually. Ronaldo has been trash and did not even deserve to be called up. THE FACT IS THAT PORTUGAL AND MAN UTD ARE BETTER WITHOUT HIM.The youngsters that replace him produce results. FACTOS!
The amount of CR7 d riding in the comments is insane
He was wrong to select him in the first place, he tried to cheat a teammate of a goal, faked a penalty and assisted the opponents with a goal
The coach sets the tone. He shows his distrust of Ronaldo and it transfers to the players. Ten touches means his team didn't want to play with him. Chose to look everywhere but him when up until then everything went through him. I'll say it everywhere, no integrity from these pundit. These are news casters reading from a script, not analysts. They relished Ronaldo being benched against Switzerland and recommended it against Morocco as though the two were on the same level. As though the stakes weren't different and the level higher. Alot of countries rest their first choice in lesser games but when it's back to business they bring back their a listers they don't keep their a listers on the bench because the sub scored a few goals in a meaningless match against weak opposition. Their coach has no sense and the people who applaud him had none either. And so it trickled down into the team. And instead of being analytical and reading what's actually going on they are further laying this on Ronaldo and enjoying his demise. These same people that questioned the Brasil coach and his decisions applaud the Portuguese coach, when their decisions had similar outcomes.
The truth is, once they scored before half time, in the second half all Morocco team played all out defence. It's normal that Ronaldo find hard to score against 10 defenders. If he will had played from the start Ronaldo will had the chance to score or give a good pass to his teammate without all out defence. Plus, when everyone mark Cristiano Ronaldo, cause you have to, then other players become dangerous unmarked, so you could use strategy as well with Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch to get early lead. And plus you dont bench Ronaldo at his last world cup, no matter if he scores or not, you let him enjoy the world cup. Too bad some people are a bit stupid to realise that. And benching rui patricio was the last straw for me. You dont bench the goalkeeper who defended with his life in euro 2016 and has so much experience, with a jokester who made a mistake in group stage and now another one.
I usually agree with Gab, but I disagree with him this time. Portugal played way better in the game he didn't start. As a manager, it was Fernando Santos' job to pick the best start 11 with the best chance to win, not to pick Ronaldo + 10 other players regardless of his form.
The future is now, Portugal need to forget about Ronaldo and focus on the talented youth they have in all areas of the pitch
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Yeah, blame the team and the coach because he missed a sitter and had 10 touches for the whole game.
Gab Marcotti can't stop fantasizing about Ronaldo. He defended him after the Piers Morgan interview, then he says that he should start and now he says that he can play another world cup, when in fact he wasn't good enough to start this world cup. Closely hear Marcotti and he's always fantasizing about Ronaldo
it was wrong to bring him on.
Not his wife.
Who cares…let him keep crying…Fraud
He won the European Championship and Nations League with Portugal, so surely he’ll get over this loss.
I thought Ruinaldo wnt in the cancer Brazilian,fascust s lisbon,african natiraluzed team?Corrupt Santos pratically destroy any opportunity of a came back when Ruinaldo came in….which gave Marroc more resting having dead wood wsnting fir the ball in their Pen7 area .
I hanvent see any games of the moaning Cancer team freaks .Yoitube highlights show Ruinaldo came in on the 50th min?Complete suicide of a team that has no plan b when goes 1-0 down just like FCPorto.
No win situation, we play him from the beginning…he may go on to score a winning goal. We could lose, we could win. No point dwelling on if's. It wasn't meant to be for Portugal to go through. Morocco deserved victory on the day so respect!
I believe cr7 should have started because Morocco would of had to pay a lot of attention to cr7 because as old as he is he will destroy u if u don't pay close attention to him Ramos was easily handled in that game
Honestly I would’ve loved to him start knowing it’s could’ve been his last game I understand from a team perspective you want the best out there to fit the coach scheme for the match day but aye I hope whenever he goes he keeps playing great even know the end is near for CR7
These two guys are the only real ones on espn fc
YES. WRONG
My only 2 guys I listen to about soccer on espn
how absurd, this man had basically over half the match to do something