Dietmar Hamann has labeled Cristiano Ronaldo “embarrassing” and accused him of being self-centered after the Portuguese star cried following a missed penalty at Euro 2024.
Ronaldo had the opportunity to secure Portugal’s place in the quarter-finals with a penalty in extra-time against Slovakia. However, his shot was saved by goalkeeper Jan Oblak, leaving the 39-year-old in tears. The match went to a penalty shootout, where Ronaldo successfully converted his spot kick. And Portugal’s goalkeeper Diogo Costa saved all three of Slovakia’s penalties, ensuring their progression to the quarter-finals.
Despite Ronaldo’s contribution to the eventual victory, former Liverpool and Manchester City midfielder Hamann. Who faced Ronaldo during his first stint at Manchester United, criticized his behavior. Speaking as a pundit on Irish broadcaster RTE, Hamann described Ronaldo as “out of order.”
“Thirty-nine-year-old plays 120 minutes, he misses a penalty and I’ve got to say, I bought into all that ‘Ronaldo has turned into a team player because he needs the team more than he used to,'” Hamann remarked. “I bought into that nonsense as well, but I think he showed his true colors again tonight. Missing the penalty, he starts crying on the pitch, he starts crying at half-time in extra-time. And I’m thinking ‘it’s all about you.’
“There’s a squad of 26 players, there’s 20 staff, there’s 30 or 40,000 fans in there, it’s not about you. You try to be neutral, but I was cheering Slovakia on because I thought the reaction was embarrassing, I thought it was out of order.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, because once you show emotions, once you get emotional, it’s the end of it. So that was the point where the manager had to say, ‘you’ve got to come off because you’re not in the right frame of mind to carry on playing.’
“Credit to him he took the first penalty and he took it well, it was a very good penalty, but as I said I bought into all that ‘Ronaldo’s turned into a team player,’ it’s absolute nonsense. All he thinks about is himself.
“He scores the penalty and apologizes to the fans, he doesn’t need to apologize. He will start the next game but I can’t see any other outcome than a France win.”
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