To state the bleeding obvious, Portugal’s chances of prospering at Euro 2016 increase exponentially if the team can count on the fitness of the team’s captain and talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.
As such, news of the Real Madrid star’s thigh injury has set alarm bells ringing in his home country ahead of this summer’s tournament.
It is no coincidence that at Euro 2008 and the 2014 World Cup, where a physically debilitated Ronaldo was a shadow of his normal self, the Seleção produced their worst performances since Ronaldo broke into the Portugal side and immediately made himself undroppable in 2004.
Ronaldo will set records that may never be beaten for his national side. Already Portugal’s leading all-time goalscorer, the Madeiran is on the cusp of becoming the nation’s record appearance maker. He is just two games shy of Luís Figo’s 127 caps.
His astonishing level of consistency at the very top of the game makes his relatively sparse injury history even more remarkable. Ronaldo’s most serious injury to date occurred in 2008, when a Manchester United player. Ruptured ankle ligaments required surgery and a three-month absence from the pitches, but not before he had played through the pain in the European Championship held in Austria and Switzerland, where Portugal reached the quarter-finals before succumbing to Germany.
Broken in Brazil
In an unfortunate coincidence for Portugal, the only other mildly serious injury Ronaldo has had in his career also occurred in the lead-up to a major tournament. Two years ago knee tendinitis badly inhibited Ronaldo in Brazil, and it made for painful watching as the captain laboured through three highly forgettable group games for the Seleção. Ronaldo admitted upon his return that he should not have made the trip to Brazil.
Curiously, on both occasions Ronaldo had lifted the Champions League a month before heading off for international duty, and the spectre of history repeating itself for a third time has left Portugal fans on tenterhooks. Real Madrid are well placed to reach the final of the world’s greatest club competition, and should they do so it is difficult to see Ronaldo resisting the urge to play, even if still unfit and at risk of exacerbating his injury.
Just two weeks ago it all looked so rosy. Ronaldo was the only outfield player in Spain to have played every minute of all 34 games played up until that point in La Liga, and his hat-trick to turn around the Champions League quarter-final tie against Wolfsburg seemed to indicate he would be arriving in France at the top of his game.
But that changed when he attempted an overhead kick in the dying seconds of the very next match against Villarreal, damaging his right thigh in the process, prompting him to walk off the pitch before the final whistle had blown (pictured above). He subsequently missed the games against Rayo Vallecano and Manchester City, seems certain to sit out the Real Sociedade encounter this weekend, and is a doubt for the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi-final against City.
Conflicting reports have emerged regarding the extent of the damage, with Real Madrid sources saying it is merely a thigh strain and Ronaldo himself playing down the injury (posting a “Don’t Worry” message on Social Media), but sections of the Spanish press have claimed he has a micro rupture of the muscle, and he is reported to be undergoing stem-cell treatment.
Two men down
Portugal coach Fernando Santos is no doubt keeping close tabs on the situation and will be praying his main man makes a full recovery ahead of Portugal’s first Euro 2016 match against Iceland on 14 June.
The Seleção have already lost left-back Fábio Coentrão and attacking midfielder Danny for the tournament, but the absence of the captain – or an underperforming Ronaldo – would be an incomparably bigger blow to Portugal’s chances.
By Tom Kundert
