Ronaldo explained that he cried because he had to do better when he took the penalty kick in extra time when Portugal beat Slovenia 3-0 in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 of EURO 2024. Meanwhile, Messi stopped taking the kicks.
Messi, since the 2022 World Cup, where he scored 7 goals, including 5 from the 11m mark after penalties awarded to Argentina , has not taken any more shots in any of his team’s matches. He often lets his teammate Di Maria take them or, more recently, gives the opportunity to striker Lautaro Martinez.
Messi has not taken a penalty for Argentina since the 2022 World Cup
The reason was explained by Messi: “Lautaro Martinez needs to find his scoring touch again, because every time he returns to the national team he always has difficulties. This will help the overall performance of the whole team.”
Immediately effective, Lautaro Martinez after Messi let him take the 11m penalty in the match Argentina won Guatemala 4-1 in the preparation for Copa America, up to now along with the last 3 group stage matches, this striker of Inter Milan Club has scored a total of 6 goals after 4 matches. Of which, there are 4 goals in Copa America to lead the tournament’s top scorer.
After scoring goals at Copa America, especially the double in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Peru on June 30, Lautaro Martinez ran to the bench to thank Messi for helping him regain his scoring instinct while playing for the national team.
Lautaro Martinez thanks Messi
Lautaro Martinez’s continuous “firing” also helps Messi extremely comfortable when he has to sit on the bench due to injury. Above all, when Messi cannot play, the Argentina team is still extremely confident with the excellent form of Lautaro Martinez, along with Julian Alvarez and Di Maria to lead the attack.
At the age of 37, Messi is still playing for the Argentina national team, but this famous player has gradually reduced the biggest responsibilities to avoid pressure. In particular, Messi confirmed that he is no longer too interested in records, but only wants to keep the feeling of happiness every time he plays for the team in the final Copa America of his career.
Ronaldo obsessed with setting records?
With Ronaldo , the 39-year-old Portuguese star, also determined that EURO 2024 would be the last of his career and also wanted to avoid unnecessary pressure. The fact that Ronaldo could score, but instead assisted Bruno Fernandes to score more easily to seal a 3-0 win over Turkey on June 23, inspired many viewers.
If he had also let his teammate take the 11m penalty kick in the 105th minute of extra time against Slovenia on July 2, it would have been even better.
However, Ronaldo took the penalty for many reasons, he was the captain and also wanted to become the oldest player in history to score at EURO, according to Guinness World Records . The penalty was the best chance to score (perhaps even better than the assist for Bruno Fernandes), so Ronaldo was confident that he would score, thereby setting a personal record.
Ronaldo burst into tears because he was so disappointed before the best chance to score
In the match against Slovenia, Ronaldo was also responsible for taking free kicks, but missed all 4 free kicks (including 3 direct free kicks).
However, Ronaldo failed to score in the pressure of setting a record, and goalkeeper Jan Oblak (Slovenia) was too easy to block. Furthermore, during the match against Slovenia, Ronaldo received every free kick, but none of them were successful.
The fact that this famous player later burst into tears because he was so disappointed in himself almost harmed the Portuguese team, because at that time the score was still 0-0 and there was still a second extra time ahead, losing spirit could easily lead to defeat.
Luckily for Ronaldo, the Portuguese team held on and won the penalty shootout. Ronaldo made up for his mistake with a successful first penalty kick. Instead of that, why didn’t Ronaldo choose a better solution for himself and his teammates?
If he still thinks about himself, Ronaldo can completely affect the overall performance of the Portuguese team, when ahead is a very difficult quarter-final match with the French team.
