End beckons again for Ronaldo after Portugal Euros exit

End beckons again for Ronaldo after Portugal Euros exit
Ronaldo admitted these will be his last Euros. Portugal now turn their attention to the 2026 World Cup. (Reuters)
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Updated 06 July 2024
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End beckons again for Ronaldo after Portugal Euros exit

End beckons again for Ronaldo after Portugal Euros exit
  • Striker is without a goal in his last nine major tournament matches

BERLIN: Time is up — again — for Portugal’s aging superstar Cristiano Ronaldo after an inglorious Euro 2024 exit.

France ousted the 2016 winners 5-3 on penalties after a goalless quarterfinal in Hamburg on Friday and Ronaldo was ineffectual at best, damaging to his own side’s aspirations at worst.

In the 2022 World Cup when former coach Fernando Santos dropped Ronaldo to the bench for the team’s 6-1 demolition of Switzerland, a bright Portugal future shimmered on the horizon.

However, his successor Roberto Martinez has backed the 39-year-old, now playing in Saudi Arabia at Al-Nassr, to the hilt and beyond.

Maintaining the former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward as their figurehead, Portugal swept through Euros qualification with a 100 percent record and were among the favorites in Germany.

However, they have badly under-performed with Ronaldo failing to find the net in five appearances this summer. The striker is without a goal in his last nine major tournament matches.

Despite boasting strong options to replace him, including Liverpool’s Diogo Jota and Paris Saint-Germain’s Goncalo Ramos, Martinez refused to take Ronaldo off against France.

Didier Deschamps substituted Les Bleus icon Kylian Mbappe as he struggled to make an impact but Ronaldo remained even as the game passed him by.

In the last 16 win over Slovenia, Ronaldo missed a penalty in extra-time and burst into tears, a distracting sideshow, but Martinez praised the forward’s emotional reaction after the game as a sign of his passion.

However, many suspect those tears were not for Portugal but for himself, as he failed to break the record for the oldest player ever to score at a European Championship.

Ronaldo also ended his run of scoring at every major international tournament he has competed in, and could not extend his record of 14 Euros goals.

He took 23 shots without success in Germany, and perhaps the most damning was a glittering opportunity in extra-time against France.

Spritely winger Francisco Conceicao cut the ball back to the forward, a few yards out from goal, but somehow he fired his team’s clearest chance high over the bar.

It was the kind of chance that Ronaldo has dispatched a hundred times in his career.

Ronaldo’s presence heavily conditions the way Portugal plays.

His teammates, including creative geniuses Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, often resort to crosses to try and find him.

Ronaldo no longer has the pace to consistently break in behind the defense, limiting the passing options of the team’s playmakers.

Martinez not only did not seem powerful enough to leave Ronaldo out of his plans altogether but could not even bring himself to substitute the forward at the tournament, except for in the shock 2-0 defeat by Georgia.

Ronaldo started that match even though Portugal were guaranteed to win the group, while virtually every other regular was rested.

The coach said after elimination by France that no decision had been made over Ronaldo’s future at the international level.

“We just finished the game, everything is still too raw, we’re suffering a defeat as a team, there’s no individual decisions at this point,” Martinez told reporters.

One of the reasons the Spanish coach may not feel powerful enough to cut the cord is the “cult of Cristiano” which is evident among the team’s supporters.

To attend a Portugal match is to swim in a sea of maroon Ronaldo “7” shirts, with some fans wearing masks of their talisman’s face.

Even opposition fans come to watch the Ronaldo circus, though there is more sulking and pouting than goals now.

“(Our fans) mostly wanted to see Ronaldo, that’s why they flocked to the match,” noted Slovenia midfielder Adam Gnezda Cerin of a March friendly in which they beat Ronaldo and Portugal 2-0.

Although at the Euros they were eventually eliminated by Portugal on penalties, they exposed Ronaldo’s inadequacies once more at this level and France finished the job.

Ronaldo admitted these will be his last Euros, but as Portugal now turn their attention to the 2026 World Cup, their chances will surely be magnified without the preening, past-it hitman.


Man United loses 3-0 at home to Tottenham as Bruno Fernandes is red-carded

Man United loses 3-0 at home to Tottenham as Bruno Fernandes is red-carded
Updated 30 September 2024
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Man United loses 3-0 at home to Tottenham as Bruno Fernandes is red-carded

Man United loses 3-0 at home to Tottenham as Bruno Fernandes is red-carded
  • Tottenham is up to eighth and has won four games in a row in all competitions

MANCHESTER, England: Manchester United was humbled by Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday, losing 3-0 at Old Trafford and seeing captain Bruno Fernandes sent off in an increasingly troubled start to the season.
Goals by Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke consigned United to a third loss in the league already this season and left Eric ten Hag’s team 12th in the standings.
“First we have to deal with this and show resilience. This is not good enough,” Ten Hag said. “We have to accept this and get better. Focus on the next game and do things better than we did today.”
Tottenham is up to eighth and has won four games in a row in all competitions.
In contrast, United has failed to win any of its last three games in all competitions — and has won just one of its last five games in the league — and there were boos inside the stadium at the final whistle. Many fans had already left after Solanke’s strike, prompting chants of “Is there a fire drill?” from Spurs fans.
As bad as this latest setback for Ten Hag was, it could have been worse, with goalkeeper Andre Onana twice denying Timo Werner in one-on-one situations with the forward. He also stopped Solanke from scoring his second when through on goal late on.
United got off to a terrible start. It went behind in the third minute when Johnson was left with an open net to aim at after defender Micky van de Ven was allowed to run from his own half and cross from inside the box.
Johnson made no mistake from close range and might have added another when firing against the post.
United was lucky not to go further behind before halftime as Tottenham dominated and even came close to an equalizer when Alejandro Garnacho volleyed against the post with a rare chance for the home team.
But any chance of a comeback was dealt a major blow after Fernandes was shown a straight red for a studs-up challenge on James Maddison shortly before the break.
Spurs didn’t have to wait long to double the lead, with Kulusevski adding a second two minutes into the second half by flicking a shot past Onana from Johnson’s cross.
Solanke slid in for Spurs’ third in the 77th.
“We were real good. Obviously it is a great victory,” Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou said. “That is everything we want to be.”
Delap double
Aston Villa missed the chance to move level on points with Premier League leader Liverpool after a 2-2 draw at Ipswich earlier Sunday.
Liam Delap scored twice for newly promoted Ipswich to earn a point at Portman Road.
Villa had led 2-1 at halftime, but Delap’s goal in the 72nd ensured the points were shared.
Villa remained in fifth place and Ipswich is 15th after a fourth-straight draw in the league.
Delap fired Ipswich into a surprise lead in the eighth with a low effort at the near post. Morgan Rogers leveled the score seven minutes later as Villa capitalized on the Ipswich defense’s failure to clear the danger from its own box and drilled past goalkeeper Arijanet Muric.
Ollie Watkins headed the visitors in front in the 32nd when rising to meet Leon Bailey’s cross from the right for his fourth goal in as many games.
But Villa’s hopes of leapfrogging Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea were ended by Delap’s second from inside the box.


Kane limps off as frustrated Bayern held by Leverkusen

Kane limps off as frustrated Bayern held by Leverkusen
Updated 29 September 2024
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Kane limps off as frustrated Bayern held by Leverkusen

Kane limps off as frustrated Bayern held by Leverkusen
  • England captain Kane, who was largely anonymous in front of goal, hobbled off with a foot injury with four minutes remaining after a collision with Leverkusen’s Amine Adli
  • Bayern had been champions for 11 seasons before Alonso’s Leverkusen turned German football on its head last season

MUNICH: Harry Kane went off injured as Bayern Munich were held 1-1 at home by champions Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Robert Andrich put the visitors ahead after 31 minutes in Munich but Aleksandar Pavlovic pulled leaders Bayern level eight minutes later with an incredible long range shot.

England captain Kane, who was largely anonymous in front of goal, hobbled off with a foot injury with four minutes remaining after a collision with Leverkusen’s Amine Adli.

Coach Vincent Kompany said it was “too early” to know the extent of the injury but he was hopeful Kane would be fit for Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Aston Villa.

“I don’t have the exact information but hopefully it’s just a bit of pain and we’ll get him back this week,” said Kompany.

Bayern sporting director Max Eberl added: “When Harry leaves the field it means something because he’s pretty tough.

“(The incident) doesn’t look good, but we hope he’s made out of strong English wood and nothing’s broken.”

Bayern’s Serge Gnabry hit the woodwork twice in the second half, but Leverkusen held on for a draw.

“We deserved more, definitely,” said Bayern captain Manuel Neuer.

“We were clearly the better team and had the better chances. The goal we conceded was frustrating.”

Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso was happy.

“Against Bayern you need to be disciplined and make sacrifices,” he said, adding “that was the style and manner we needed to play here today.

“We were serious, restricted their chances and I’m happy with the point.”

Bayern had been champions for 11 seasons before Alonso’s Leverkusen turned German football on its head last season, becoming the first side to complete an unbeaten league and cup double.

The hosts were completely dominant early with their best chance a 19th-minute free kick which Michael Olize curled inches over.

Leverkusen took the lead against the run of play however, Andrich smashing in a low shot from a corner after a Pavlovic error.

Despite bossing field position, Bayern’s equalizer came through a stunning shot from well outside the box, Pavlovic making good on his error with a superb curling effort.

The hosts started the second half like they did the first, Gnabry hitting the woodwork twice in a matter of seconds after a classy Kane pass.

In the final minutes, both sides seemed content to hold on for a draw, but while Bayern remain three points clear of Leverkusen, Kane’s late injury will be a worry ahead of a packed fixture schedule.

Earlier Benjamin Sesko scored twice in five minutes as RB Leipzig’s young attack combined superbly to beat Augsburg 4-0 at home.

Sesko struck twice and laid on an assist for fellow 21-year-old Xavi Simons, who himself assisted a goal for 24-year-old Lois Openda.

Augsburg’s best chance of the game came when they had a penalty saved midway through the first half.

Leipzig coach Marco Rose credited his team’s “belief in ourselves,” saying “we were anything but happy” after a three-game winless run.

Last year’s runners-up Stuttgart came back to earth after Sunday’s 5-1 demolition of Borussia Dortmund, needing a stoppage-time Deniz Undav goal to snatch a 2-2 draw at Wolfsburg.

Jonas Wind put the Wolves in front 10 minutes in but the visitors equalized late in the first half, Enzo Millot tapping in a rebound after his penalty was saved.

Stuttgart were on the wrong end of a tough call midway through the second half, Atakan Karazor sent from the park for a second yellow despite looking the victim of a foul.

Wolfsburg hit the lead five minutes later through Mohammed Amoura, who escaped a send off through a VAR review. Undav’s late strike saved his side from a tough defeat.

St. Pauli won their first top-division match since February 2011 with a 3-0 victory at a wasteful and unlucky Freiburg.

A double from Elias Saad and a goal from Dapo Afolayan took St. Pauli to victory, with Freiburg having two goals ruled out for offside.

Tomas Cvancara’s goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time gave Borussia Moenchengladbach a 1-0 home win over Union Berlin, ending the latter’s unbeaten league record.

Heidenheim won 2-0 at 10-man Mainz.


Osasuna dismantle Barca’s perfect Liga start

Osasuna dismantle Barca’s perfect Liga start
Updated 29 September 2024
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Osasuna dismantle Barca’s perfect Liga start

Osasuna dismantle Barca’s perfect Liga start
  • The Catalans won all seven of their opening fixtures but Hansi Flick’s rotated side came badly undone in Pamplona

PAMPLONA, Spain: Osasuna shattered La Liga leaders Barcelona’s perfect start to the season with an emphatic 4-2 victory on Saturday.
The Catalans won all seven of their opening fixtures but Hansi Flick’s rotated side came badly undone in Pamplona as Ante Budimir scored a brace either side of Bryan Zaragoza’s strike.
Pau Victor had given Barca a lifeline to pull them back into the game before Budimir bagged his second from the penalty spot.
Abel Bretones added a sensational fourth from the edge of the box, before Lamine Yamal pulled one back with a fine effort of his own.
Victory would have matched Barcelona’s best ever start to a league campaign with eight consecutive wins, but they were not able to build on their four-point lead on second-place Real Madrid.
The Spanish champions visit Atletico Madrid, third, in a derby clash on Sunday.
“It’s normal there are rotations, there are a lot of games, it’s not an excuse,” Barcelona midfielder Pedri told Movistar.
“In the second half we deserved a bit more but we let in goals when we were at our best.”
Ahead of a Champions League match against Young Boys on Tuesday, Flick shuffled his pack.
The coach handed starts to defenders Gerard Martin and Sergi Dominguez as well as Pablo Torre in midfield and Victor in attack.
The coach rested Spain Euro 2024 starlet Yamal and Brazilian winger Raphinha among other regular picks.
As a result Barcelona failed to ignite in the first half and Osasuna winger Zaragoza took center-stage.
Last season Zaragoza struck twice while playing for Granada in a 2-2 draw against Barca, a performance which helped earn him a move to Bayern Munich.
On loan from the German giants, Zaragoza created the opener for target-man Budimir with a fine cross, which the Croatian nodded home with ease in the 18th minute after escaping the attentions of Dominguez.
Zaragoza finished the second himself 10 minutes later after being sent through on goal, with the winger bypassing goalkeeper Inaki Pena with a fine ball roll and then slotting into the empty net.
Barcelona complained there had been a foul on Victor in the build-up but the referee waved their complaints away.
The leaders created little themselves, with the best opening falling to Ferran Torres. However the Spanish winger miscontrolled on the edge of the box and was quickly swallowed up by the Osasuna defense.

Yamal, Raphinha and Ansu Fati warmed up at half-time, with Barcelona needing to turn to their stars to mount a comeback.
Before Flick had time to send them on, Victor pulled Barcelona back into the game.
Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera gave the ball away with a poor throw, intercepted by Martin, who fed Victor.
The forward took an early shot from distance which Herrera, who slipped as he made it back to his goal, should have kept out but could not.
Flick took off top scorer Robert Lewandowski, largely uninvolved, with 20 minutes remaining and moved Torres into the middle to fill the gap.
However Osasuna almost immediately stretched their lead when 19-year-old center-back Dominguez scythed down Budimir in the area as he went to shoot.
The striker buried the penalty with a low effort hit hard enough to beat Pena although he dived the right way.
Ruben Pena wasted a glorious chance to grab a fourth as he ran in on goal but was caught in two minds whether to pass or shoot, and Eric Garcia charged back to dispossess him as he dawdled.
Bretones, on the other hand, was lethal from the edge of the box when he won the ball back and powered an effort past Barca goalkeeper Pena.
Yamal hit back brilliantly from range and teed up Torres who struck the post, but it was too little, too late.
Osasuna rose to sixth and Zaragoza said his team had been determined to beat the leaders.
“We knew Barca were an incredible team, they had won everything and we knew we had to get stuck into it, and that’s how we went out there,” explained the winger.
“It’s a special game and really nice to play in.”


Man City held without Rodri as Palmer’s four-goal haul fires Chelsea

Man City held without Rodri as Palmer’s four-goal haul fires Chelsea
Updated 28 September 2024
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Man City held without Rodri as Palmer’s four-goal haul fires Chelsea

Man City held without Rodri as Palmer’s four-goal haul fires Chelsea
  • City’s second successive draw in the league was especially frustrating as Arsenal moved level on points with them with a last-gasp 4-2 win against Leicester a few hours later
  • Palmer became the first player ever to score four goals in the first half of a Premier League match with a stunning display at Stamford Bridge

LONDON: Manchester City felt the absence of star midfielder Rodri as the Premier League champions were held to a damaging 1-1 draw at Newcastle, while Cole Palmer scored four times in Chelsea’s 4-2 win against Brighton on Saturday.
City’s second successive draw in the league was especially frustrating as Arsenal moved level on points with them with a last-gasp 4-2 win against Leicester a few hours later.
Rodri has been ruled out for the rest of the season after surgery on a knee injury suffered in last weekend’s bruising 2-2 draw with title rivals Arsenal.
Josko Gvardiol put City in front at St. James’ Park, but Newcastle were well worthy of the point given to them by Anthony Gordon’s second-half penalty.
Guardiola described Rodri, who is unbeaten in his past 52 Premier League appearances stretching back to February 2023, as “irreplaceable.”
To fill the void left by the Spaniard, Rico Lewis was thrust into a central midfield role alongside Mateo Kovacic.
But City lacked the control and poise so often provided by Rodri on and off the ball.
“It is always difficult here with their physicality and they defend so deep. We had chances but (Nick) Pope (the goalkeeper) was brilliant so we take the point,” said Guardiola.
“We made bad decisions (with the chances) to make it 2-0.”
At the Emirates Stadium, Gabriel Martinelli put Arsenal ahead in the 20th minute with his first goal this season, the Brazilian winger drilled a low finish inside the far post from Jurrien Timber’s cross.
Martinelli turned provider on the stroke of half-time, setting up Leandro Trossard to stroke in Arsenal’s second goal.
James Justin reduced the deficit with a deflected 47th-minute effort and stunned the Emirates Stadium into silence in the 63rd minute when his thunderous volley cannoned in off the woodwork.
But Mikel Arteta’s men stole the points four minutes into stoppage-time when Trossard’s shot deflected off Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi for an own goal, with Kai Havertz netting moments later to confirm the victory.
Palmer became the first player ever to score four goals in the first half of a Premier League match with a stunning display at Stamford Bridge.
Former Brighton duo Moises Caicedo and Robert Sanchez were guilty of mistakes when Georginio Rutter put the Seagulls ahead in the seventh minute.
Just moments after hitting the post and then having a goal disallowed, it was third time lucky for Palmer in the 21st minute.
Palmer equalized with a clinical finish after Nicolas Jackson seized on Adam Webster’s mistake to tee up his fellow forward.
When Jadon Sancho was tripped in the area by two Brighton defenders, there was never any doubt that penalty expert Palmer would step up to dispatch the 28th-minute spot-kick with ease.
Palmer completed his nine-minute-and-48-second treble in the 31st minute, curling a brilliant free-kick past Bart Verbruggen from 25 yards to make it five goals in six league games this term.
Carlos Baleba pulled one back in the 34th minute, but Palmer’s incredible afternoon wasn’t over and, in the 41st minute, the England star converted Sancho’s pass with an emphatic strike.
West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek rescued a 1-1 draw at Brentford, who made Premier League history thanks to Bryan Mbeumo’s quick-fire opener.
Under-fire Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui saw his side fall behind after just 37 seconds as Mbeumo’s superb volley made Brentford the first Premier League team to score in the first minute in three consecutive games.
But Soucek swept in West Ham’s 54th-minute equalizer to avoid a fourth defeat in their last five games in all competitions.
Dwight McNeil struck twice in the second half as Everton beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to end their winless start to the league season, just days after the Goodison Park takeover by a group led by American billionaire Dan Friedkin.
Raul Jimenez’s 51st-minute penalty gave Fulham a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool will go top of the table if they win at Wolves in Saturday’s late game.


Guardiola wants close friend Arteta to explain himself after cryptic comments about Man City

Guardiola wants close friend Arteta to explain himself after cryptic comments about Man City
Updated 28 September 2024
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Guardiola wants close friend Arteta to explain himself after cryptic comments about Man City

Guardiola wants close friend Arteta to explain himself after cryptic comments about Man City
  • Arteta seems certain their relationship won’t be damaged
  • Guardiola, however, might have gotten irritated

MANCHESTER: The friendship between Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta could come under strain with the rivalry between their title-chasing Premier League clubs intensifying in recent days.
Arteta seems certain their relationship won’t be damaged.
Guardiola, however, might have gotten irritated.
Arsenal’s tactics, and use of soccer’s so-called “dark arts,” brought some criticism from a number of City players after the feisty 2-2 draw between the teams last weekend.
Arteta responded rather cryptically by saying he has “all the information” about City owing to his time there as an assistant to Guardiola from 2016-19.
“So I know, believe me,” Arteta said.
Those remarks were sufficiently vague for Guardiola to wonder whether Arteta may actually be alluding to the off-the-field issues at City, which are currently defending themselves against 115 charges of breaching Premier League regulations following an investigation into the club’s financial affairs.
“Next time he has to be more clear exactly what does he mean,” Guardiola said of Arteta. “He said he was here four years and we know exactly what happened here.
“It can be related (to) the process now with 115 charges, maybe it’s about that. He knows information about that maybe, or maybe he has something like ... I don’t know. OK, next time, like a good relation I have with him, hopefully this question has been asked. He can answer exactly what does it mean when he said he was here and ‘I know what’s happening here.’“
Guardiola was speaking Friday in a news conference that took place about the same time as Arteta was holding one at Arsenal’s training base.
Asked about his relationship with Guardiola, Arteta said: “I love him, I respect him, I admire him and I admire his team and everything that he does. This is sport. One thing is our profession, another is our personal relationship.
“If our relationship was damaged because one draws and the other one wins or the amount of times that they’ve beaten us, I would not talk to him anymore. So that’s not our relationship, especially the relationship that I consider both of us have. In sport it will never get in my way, a personal relationship, that’s for sure.”
Guardiola said he feels Arsenal might be provoking his players into a rivalry, picking up especially on post-match comments by Arsenal defender Gabriel.
“Gabriel said it perfectly after the match — so this is a war, we are here to provoke the opponent, to push them,” Guardiola said. “At the end what can you do? OK, you provoke me — I’m there. You want a war? I’ll do a war.”
Arsenal have finished runner-up to City in the league the last two seasons.