Euro 2020’s top scorers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Patrik Schick, will face each other in the Euro 2024 group opener, in Germany.
The top scorers from the last European Championship will face each other when Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal face Patrik Schick’s Czech Republic, in the debut of Group F of Euro 2024, at the Red Bull Arena, in Leipzig.
Ronaldo and Schick both scored five goals in the COVID-postponed Euro 2020 and this time will likely shoulder the burden of their teams’ goals.
The tournament could be Ronaldo’s international swan song, although the 39-year-old looks as hungry for goals and adulation as ever as he prepares to start his sixth Euros on Tuesday.
While he may have moved away from Europe’s elite to play in Saudi Arabia, the goal-scoring instincts of men’s international football’s top scorer appear sharper than ever.
After finishing as second top scorer in the qualifiers with 10 goals and scoring 35 in 31 league games for Al Nassr last season, the seemingly ageless Ronaldo prepared for the tournament with two goals in the final friendly against Ireland.
Although Ronaldo lifted the trophy in 2016, he may still harbor a sense of unfinished business on the international stage.
After missing most of the final eight years ago through injury, he failed to lead Portugal to further glory at two subsequent World Cups and at Euro 2020, when they were knocked out in the round of 16.
This has been one of Portugal’s most golden generations, but with Ronaldo and 41-year-old defender Pepe in the twilight of their careers, Euro 2024 feels like a last hurray.
With a squad full of talent, Portugal will, on paper, be one of the best teams in Germany. They won all 10 games in the qualifiers, scoring 36 goals and conceding two goals.
However, their coach, Roberto Martinez, knows all about the pitfalls of leading a group of extremely talented players at international tournaments, having failed to turn Belgium’s so-called “Golden Generation” into tournament winners.
Martinez, however, also knows he has, without a doubt, the best in the game in Ronaldo.
“We have 23 players. We create competitiveness and the game makes decisions,” he said earlier this month. “But Cristiano is prepared to help the team and give everything he can. And there is no other player in the world of football who can bring what Cristiano can to the dressing room.”
Schick, who won goal of the tournament at Euro 2020 for his stunning goal against Scotland from midfield, will lead a Czech team with very different expectations.
The Czechs finished second in qualifying behind Albania, winning four of their eight games in a group that also included Poland, Moldova and the Faroe Islands.
With Schick absent from the final qualifying rounds, it was difficult to score goals, but, having just won the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, he appears to have overcome the injuries that hampered him and which could spell trouble for Portugal.
Portugal vs Czechia kicks off at 9pm local time (7pm GMT) on Tuesday 18th June.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
