In the television series Lost, some of the islanders believed that if they didn’t input a sequence into a computer every 108 minutes and press execute something bad would happen. The sequence — 4, 8,15, 16, 23 and 43 — was a Doomsday equation invented by a fictional Sardinian mathematician, Enzo Valenzetti. Roberto Martinez has approached this European Championship as if bent over a keyboard, waiting to type the number 7 and push a button with Ronaldo’s face on it for fear the end of the world will come if he doesn’t do so in the countdown to every kick-off.
Assurances that the sun would still rise if he left Ronaldo out of his starting XI likely wouldn’t have changed Martinez’s mind. Only goalkeeper Diogo Costa played more minutes for Portugal this summer. Martinez kept faith in Ronaldo when he couldn’t beat Jindrich Stanek, the Czech Republic shot stopper, who once turned out for Hyde United in English seventh tier. He backed him against a heavily rotated Turkey team that included reserve goalkeeper, Altay Bayindir, whose only appearance for Manchester United this season came against Newport County in the FA Cup, who put two past him. He stood by Ronaldo when Georgia’s back three, featuring Guram Kashia, 36, and Giorgi Gvelesiani, 33, a centre-half playing with Persepolis in Iran, kept him quiet.
The lack of goals didn’t seem to bother Martinez. The limit it placed on his team’s potential didn’t either. He just kept pushing the button.
Without Ronaldo’s clever movement, Martinez argued, Francisco Conceicao would not have scored Portugal’s stoppage-time winner against the Czech Republic. His assist for Bruno Fernandes against Turkey was a “pure moment of Portuguese football to be shown in every academy in Portugal and the world of football” because, as “an out-and-out goalscorer who lives for goals”, he showed unaccustomed altruism. His tears after Jan Oblak saved his first penalty against Slovenia were “incredible for someone who has won everything and experienced everything,” Martinez said. “He doesn’t need to care that much and that is why I thank him for the way he is. For caring for the group.”
The less Ronaldo did for the team, the more important he became to Martinez. He indulged him. He buttered him up. In the end there was little to separate Martinez from the pitch invaders and selfie takers but even they had stopped trying to get to Ronaldo by the quarter-final. This was supposed to be the most talented Portugal team since the 2004 squad; the one with Luis Figo, Manuel Rui Costa, Deco and the kid Ronaldo. They won every game in qualifying with a +34 goal difference. But the goals didn’t flow at the Euros.
“Luck or a lack thereof is part of football,” Martinez said. Portugal had an xG of 9.41 and scored three times in Germany. Five if you count the Czech and Turkish own goals. Portugal created the better chances against France. “The opponent wasn’t that efficient either,” Martinez’s opposite number, Didier Deschamps observed. “But they were facing a monumental Mike Maignan.” His saves on Bruno Fernandes and, particularly, Vitinha were outstanding. The standard of goalkeeping has been a factor in Portugal’s exit. Maignan followed Oblak and Giorgi Mamardashvili in making decisive stops.
But for a team of Portugal’s talent to go three consecutive games without scoring is alarming even if it does come in the context of France’s own quirky issues in front of goal. “You can’t control if the ball hits the post and goes in or not,” Martinez said, alluding to Joao Felix’s miss in the penalty shoot-out. “What we can control is the number of times we get into the final third. We controlled the game.”
(Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
As usual, Martinez came into his post-match press conference with possession stats and a tally of corner kicks to give weight to his argument that “we deserved to win.” Hamburg was, in fairness, the scene of Portugal’s best performance at these Euros. And yet, the run-up has not been entirely convincing. Portugal fell behind against the Czechs and needed a stoppage-time goal from Conceicao to win. Turkey made four changes, benching Mert Gunok, Kenan Yildiz, Mert Muldur and Arda Guler, and were in the game until Samet Aykadin’s own goal. “It’s a sad moment,” Martinez said.
A story of missed opportunities. Could Martinez not have called up Tiago Santos, the Lille right-back, to offer a better alternative to Joao Cancelo than Nelson Semedo, who did, at one stage in the Volksparkstadion, track back impressively against a desperately poor Kylian Mbappe? Could he not have used Diogo Jota or Goncalo Ramos more? Why did he take Bruno Fernandes off with 15 minutes to go against France and not Ronaldo? Portugal’s captain had two touches in the first 20 minutes. He was, comically, caught offside on a Pepe clearance and then missed a sitter at the beginning of extra-time when Conceicao cut the ball back for him. Ronaldo skied it so high it almost ended up in the bay of this port city. And still Martinez persisted.
In the coin toss, Ronaldo even elected for Portugal to go second in the shootout even though studies have shown that kicking first is an advantage as the pressure increases on players when kicking second later. When Theo Hernandez put away the winning spot-kick, Ronaldo kept a distance from his teammates. He didn’t go to console Felix as Pepe and Ruben Dias did. In the end, he sauntered over and settled into a long brace with a tearful Pepe. It felt like the end of an era. Martinez believes it’s still too soon to comment on whether or not the France defeat constitutes Ronaldo’s last game at international level. “We just finished the game. Everything’s too raw. We’re suffering a defeat,” he said.
But if there’s one lesson to draw from this tournament it’s that Martinez has to realise benching Ronaldo doesn’t have to mean the end of the world.
(Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
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