Commentary: Cristiano Ronaldo has taken Portugal hostage, and the rest of the team is suffering from Stockholm syndrome

Portuguese and Slovenia saw a strange situation on Monday. Team captain Cristiano Ronaldo had missed the penalty kick. Ronaldo reacted to the situation like a 7-year-old junior player: he started to cry.

It took a lot of energy from the rest of the team to comfort their biggest superstar. The situation was strange. The captain of the team and the most experienced player should be the one who supports the team – not the one who has to be supported.

Keeper Diogo Costa saved the team’s place in the penalty shootout, but Portugal is probably already looking forward to the quarter-final against France with trepidation.

For their material, Portugal should not fear anyone. The team’s players are high-quality and versatile. A Lusitanian attack in particular should roll over countries like Slovenia with ease.

However, this is not the case, and the biggest culprit is Ronaldo. There is no need to deny the superstar’s previous achievements. He is the world record holder for both international matches and goals. There are five Golden Balls and five Champions League wins for the best player in the world. There is this, this and that.

And then there is the morbid role in the Portuguese national team.

A crying fit after the disappointing Slovenia game, Portugal’s head coach Robert Martinez ran out to praise his captain.

“He wouldn’t have to care so much, and that’s why I thank him for the way he is. I thank him for caring about this team,” Martinez fumed.

So the head coach ran off to thank the captain separately for caring about the team.

Martinez may not know that Ronaldo also cried after the Champions League final in the spring of 2008. They weren’t tears of happiness that his team Manchester United had won the final. Ronaldo cried because he had missed the penalty kick.

At that time, the reaction could still put the 23-year-old player at the peak of his youth. The soon-to-be forty-year-old man no longer has the same opportunity.

Martinez’s words also confirmed that nothing is about to change. Despite his failure, Ronaldo also takes Portugal’s next penalty kick, just as he also takes all of the team’s free kicks.

Ronaldo has taken a total of 60 free kicks in prestigious competitions in his career. Of them, exactly one has made it to the finish line.

If Ronaldo really cared about the team more than himself, he would even let someone else take the free kicks.

It’s not unusual, that the superstar has a season ticket for his team’s special situations. Ronaldo becomes the real problem when looking at Portugal’s attack. The best places are tried to be played time and time again for Ronaldo, who is no longer in the prime of his prime.

The solution burdens Portugal in two ways. First, it makes the team’s offense predictable. The team fumbles one center after another, even if it has all the weapons to attack in a versatile way also on the ground.

Another problem is the waste of great material. Portugal has options for attacking roles Diogo Jotan, Rafael Leaon, of Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramosin artists like They play in the midfield Bruno Fernandesin and Bernardo Silvan like stars.

These ingredients should create a surprising and spectacular attack. However, this has not happened. Portugal played against Georgia and Slovenia with extra time for almost four hours without scoring a goal.

Offensively, the team is much less than the sum of its parts. There is only one reason for this. The whole attacking is subordinated to one individual. The ultimate purpose of Portugal’s attack is to get as much – or even something – out of the 39-year-old Ronaldo.

The plan has not worked particularly well. Ronaldo has yet to score a goal in the tournament.

The problem is familiar from Ronaldo’s club teams: the superstar does not serve the team, but the team serves him. The player legend has taken the team hostage and the rest of the players seem to have Stockholm syndrome.

To perfection striving made Cristiano Ronaldo the great player he once was. Good wasn’t enough for him. He had to be the best.

Obsessive discipline has made it possible to continue the career until the age of 40. At the same time, however, it has made the aging, slowing down and one-sided Ronaldo a heavy burden for the Portuguese national team.

Legendary Aulis Rytkönen once said that the best player is the one who makes others shine. Ronaldo has been doing the opposite for years. He has excelled mostly by outshining his teammates.

The scariest thing about the situation is not that Portugal’s great generation of players will lose a great chance to win this European Championship by worshiping Ronaldo. The scariest thing is that the going can continue in the same way even after the tournament.

There is no one in the Portuguese team to say that all that is left of the Emperor’s fights are the long breeches with holes.