The sport has not come to terms with his celebrity status. After the pitch invasion drama, Uefa must deal with it There was something disconcerting about the man being grabbed and jostled and hauled away by security guards on the concrete causeway below the executive boxes half an hour after full-time at BVB Stadion Dortmund on Saturday night. For one thing the man seemed unusually well groomed, brilliantly ear-ringed, dressed in full shiny Portugal tracksuit. He was also beaming relentlessly, shouting things such as “Big Love” and “Say Hi to Georgina”, doing the heart gesture with this hands even as three men in hi-vis jackets grabbed him by the elbows. Continue reading...

Most people came for Cristiano Ronaldo but it was the defender who was applauded by all after Portugal’s win over Turkey Turkey crossed the ball into the box, Pepe headed it clear and there was a cheer from the Portuguese fans. So Turkey crossed the ball into the box again, Pepe headed it clear again and there was another cheer, a little louder this time. So Turkey crossed the ball into the box for a third time, Pepe headed clear a third time and there was an even bigger cheer. This time it came with laughter, a touch of pantomime about it, like they were fools for even trying. Did you really think you were going to beat this guy?! Kepler Laveran de Lima Ferreira? Have you learned nothing these last 79 minutes? These past 22 years? They weren’t great crosses, it is true. It is also true that Pepe wasn’t pleased with the first of the three headers, conceding a corner from which he then towered over them all, forehead twice thudding on leather, each header firmer and funnier than the last. But it came as a nice, almost cartoonish cameo of a colossus, this character who shouldn’t be playing this well. Who probably shouldn’t be playing at all any more. Not at his age. “If you’re a neutral fan watching the game and you see Pepe playing, you would never believe that he is 41 years old,” Roberto Martínez said. Continue reading...

Child took photo with Ronaldo during Portugal game‘Uefa turned a blind eye’, father tells Bild in Germany A young boy who pulled off a risky plan to invade the pitch during Portugal’s match against Turkey and snap a picture with Cristiano Ronaldo got off with a warning, his father told German media. Portugal’s 3-1 victory over Turkey in their Euro 2024, Group F game in Dortmund was disrupted by five spectators, including 10-year-old Berat, making it on to the turf. Continue reading...

Captain labels fixture filled with history of highs and lows for Spain as a knockout game in order to rally his troops Álvaro Morata just knew. Before the draw was made, the Spain captain insists he was convinced the seleccion would get Italy. They always do and, although this is a special match for a striker whose wife Alice is Italian, who spent four years at Juventus across two spells and who may go back for a third, a game he says he can’t wait to play, it is also one that sadly, his family will not attend and one that doesn’t always end well. This is his third European Championship, the competition in which only Michel Platini and Cristiano Ronaldo have scored more; until now, they have all been ended by the same team. It’s personal, and it’s painful. In 2016, his friends Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini warned him to wear a helmet, then dumped Spain out in Paris. Five years later, he scored the opening goal in the semi-final at Wembley, but then missed the seleccion’s last penalty. “And who knows what would have happened had we won that shootout,” he says. Spain beat Italy in the semi-finals of the past two Nations Leagues, reacquainted with victory but Wembley remains, something to drive them, a vendetta. It is, in his words, still “nailed” into them: a dagger in their side, yet to be pulled out. Continue reading...

A night of mayhem and confusion, of futures and pasts dragging each other in different directions, and at its climax a goal of pure catharsis. Portugal, one of the tournament favourites, are away: a poacher’s goal by the 21-year-old Francisco Conceição sealing victory in the first minute of injury time and underlining the bench strength available to Roberto Martínez. And this was a redemption of sorts for Martínez too, a coach who knows that he will need to shed Portugal’s past if he is to shed his own. Perhaps unfairly maligned as the man who inherited Belgium’s golden generation and won nothing, Martínez has now been bequeathed a new galaxy of bright and brilliant things. Ultimately, though, Portugal’s embarrassment of riches proved more latter than former. Continue reading...

Euro 2024 news from the 8pm BST kick-off in LeipzigPlayer interactive | Read Euro 2024 Daily | And mail Scott Both of these countries have identical records at the business end of the Euros. Portugal won the title in 2016 and were runners-up in 2004; the Czechs came second in 1996 and lifted the trophy (as Czechoslovakia) in 1976. The Portuguese have the upper hand in the head-to-head since the Czech Republic became a separate country, though. Karel Poborský’s famous scoop decided the Euro 96 quarter-final, but since then it’s been four wins in a row for Portugal, at Euro 2008, Euro 2012 and in the 2022-23 Nations League. Cristiano Ronaldo (39) and Pepe (41) start for Portugal. Both break records tonight: Ronaldo will appear in his sixth European Championship finals, while Pepe, at 41 years and 113 days, becomes the oldest player in the 64-year history of the tournament. Manchester City are represented by Bernardo Silva and Rúben Dias, Manchester United by Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot. Continue reading...

Portugal begin campaign against Czechs in LeipzigGet in touch! Share your thoughts in an email to Luke Could Kylian Mbappé’s tournament be over? Will Cristiano Ronaldo, in the style of Kevin Phillips and Dean Windass, still be banging them in at 39? Why are there only two matches today? Are we going to have a summer? What’s for lunch? We’ll be seeking answers to all those questions and much more on today’s Euro 2024 news and buildup live blog. Email me with your thoughts. Let’s get into it. Continue reading...

Roberto Martínez does not bow to every whim of his superstar No 7 as forward’s career draws to a close After all the years of propping up Portugal, there is no more of Cristiano Ronaldo putting the national team on his back. Now, he is well into his victory lap. “Your happiness is our happiness, captain,” was Sport TV’s caption to a reel of his best bits from last week’s 3-0 friendly win over the Republic of Ireland. In previous tournaments, Ronaldo’s every micro-move was replete with nuance, potentially a gamechanger, but there is now less of a daily soap opera feel around the team. “I see quite a calm team, I don’t see anyone anxious,” Ronaldo told reporters on the squad’s arrival at their Euro 2024 base in Germany. That calm was not extended to Portugal’s first public training session on German soil. For the workout at Gütersloh’s Heidewaldstadion on Friday 8,200 fans turned up, tickets were reputedly changing hands for up to €1,000 (£850) and, inevitably, Ronaldo was hugged and jostled by a series of pitch invaders. Ever since the captain became a bona fide megastar at Manchester United, almost two decades ago, there has been a circus-like aspect to Portugal at major tournaments. Regardless of the residual elite quality of the squad, the periods before, during and after Cristiano will be eras of starkly different shades. Continue reading...