Portugal surprised football experts and prognosticators everywhere by winning the 2016 European Championships. The manner in which they won the Euros was even more surprising, as they did it without their superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for almost three-quarters of the match.
Ronaldo exited in the 25′ due to a severe knee injury. No specific timeline has been set for his full recovery, but he is deemed very doubtful for Real Madrid’s La Liga season opener against Real Sociedad.
Ronaldo has drawn heavy criticism for his sideline behavior in the Euro final. The critics say that his antics were a way to make the final all about him and his individual brand, not the team accomplishment. His manic looking behavior was called out by Portugal legend Antonio Simoes among others.
Today, Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho joined the trashing CR7 fray.
“Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t help in any way by doing that in the final few minutes of the Euros final,” Mourinho said of his countryman.
“There were 11 players on the pitch doing their job, and the person in charge of directing them was the coach.”
“I saw it as an overload of emotion from someone who saw that the team was just minutes away from achieving an objective which everyone wanted.”
The Galactico played for United from 2003 to 2009, and was coached by Mourinho for the three seasons when the Special One was managing Real Madrid. It is interesting, to say the least, to hear Mourinho discuss another individual with a very large ego, and how that ego overshadows the side.
Mourinho would later temper his criticism of Ronaldo, just a bit.
“He lost a little emotional control — not that that’s a bad thing,”
“But what my experience tells me is that it is in these moments, when important decisions might need to be made, that the players are lost in their own little worlds.”
Overall, it slightly lessened the harshness of Mourinho’s slams on Ronaldo; slightly. You’ll recall that earlier this summer, after it was announced that Mourinho was taking over at Old Trafford, Ronaldo backed the new manager to get things turned around. CR7 gave the new boss some substantial praise.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.