Ronaldo takes Portugal to Euro 2016 final

(Baonghean.vn) - The Portuguese captain scored the opening goal and assisted Nani to seal a 2-0 victory over Wales.

Portugal have qualified for their second Euro final and Cristiano Ronaldo has been instrumental in helping his team reach the semi-finals on both occasions. The 31-year-old's performances have reminded many of his performance in the Euro 2004 semi-final.

In the 50th minute, Ronaldo jumped high to head the ball past Wayne Hennessy, helping Portugal lead Wales 1-0. In 2004, also with a shake of the head, the then 19-year-old boy defeated Edwin Van Der Sar, bringing home the opening goal in the semi-final against the Netherlands. Even Portugal's second goal in this match was similar to the match 12 years ago in that Ronaldo was the one who created it. However, in the match against the Netherlands, he fed the ball to Maniche, while in the match against Wales, the shot accidentally became a pass for Nani to score.

Ronaldo once again scored an important goal with his head. Photo: Reuters.

The opening goal helped Ronaldo equal the record of nine goals in the Euro tournament set by Michel Platini in 1984. In the 2007-2008 Champions League final against Chelsea, with the same jumping form, Ronaldo scored the opening goal for Man Utd and finally lifted the first European Club Championship Cup of his career.

Match clip

(press ctrl + F5 if the signal stops)

Line-up

Wales:Hennessey, Gunter, Chester, Collins, Williams, Taylor, King, Ledley, Allen, Bale, Robson-Kanu.

Portugal:Rui Patricio, Alves, Fonte, Soares, Guerreiro, Danilo, Mario, Silva, Sanches, Nani, Ronaldo.

- Up to the present time of EURO 2016, the Portuguese national team has not won any match if only counting the official 90 minutes of play. However, the history of world football has witnessed 3 cases throughout the tournament where a team did not win a single match in 90 minutes but was still able to win the championship. Those are Atletico Madrid (2009/10 Europa League champion), PSV (1987/88 C1 Cup) and U17 Russia (2013 U17 European Championship).

- Robson-Kanu just scored an impressive goal in the 3-1 victory over Belgium in the quarter-finals. It was the 27-year-old striker's fourth goal after 34 appearances for Wales. There is a notable detail, every time Robson-Kanu scores, Wales always wins. Specifically, Wales won all 4 matches against Scotland (March 2013), Cyprus (October 2014), Slovakia and Belgium (EURO 2016) when Robson-Kanu scored.

- If the match goes to a penalty shootout, Portugal will have a clear advantage. They have had to decide the winner on penalties 3 times in the history of the EURO finals and won 2 times (against England in 2004 and Poland in 2016). The only defeat of the Portuguese on penalties was the loss to Spain in 2012. Portugal also beat England in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup after a penalty shootout.

- There are more memorable records waiting for Cristiano Ronaldo in the semi-final against Wales. If he is in the squad, Ronaldo will become the first player in EURO history to be present in 3 semi-finals of this tournament.

If he scores, CR7 will become the first player since 1964 to score in two EURO semi-finals. The two previous players to do this were Viktor Ponedelnik and Valentin Ivanov of the Soviet Union.

Pre-match speech

“We are not under any pressure to play a style of football that is considered to be lacking in dedication. Portugal will reach the final. Of course, facing Wales is not easy. Because we did not plan to meet them in the semi-finals. No one expected them to go this far.” - Coach Fernando Santos (Portugal national team)

“What pleased me most was that the players knew exactly what to do in situations that were not planned. Wales played fearlessly and we knew how to make things difficult for Portugal.” - Coach Chris Coleman (Wales)

Referee:Jonas Eriksson (Sweden - 42 years old)

Force:

Portugal: Without Carvalho (suspended), Pepe's ability to play is uncertain.

Wales: Ramsey and Davies are absent (suspended).

In 5/6 recent matches, Wales scored the opening goal. In contrast, Portugal did not score first in 4/5 matches at EURO 2016.

Predict the match results at Fanpage Bao Nghe An to have a chance to receive attractive gifts from Vinaphone.

Lam Tung - Le Hung