The Manchester United winger has opened about why the skipper insisted on taking the last spot-kick despite it being a very risky gamble.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Netherlands-c753 and Denmark to secure a place in the knock-out stages of Euro 2012. Placed in the ominous group of death, they faced the Germans in the opener but were unlucky as they lost 1-0.
Against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 stepped up the mark and dismantled the Dutch, thus landing a spot in the next round.
The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Czech-Republic-c2882 also endured an array of attacks from the Seleccao and although they held on pretty well, Ronaldo again proved to be his country’s saviour by netting a late goal.
Spain were arguably the toughest opponent, Portugal had come across but after trouncing them in a friendly previously, they went into the tie with optimism.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paulo-c29431 Bento’s men put in a tireless display, playing on the counter and reducing La Roja to change their philosophy.
However even 120 minutes of arduous football could not determine a winner and thus penalties ensued, with Portugal clear favourites to make it to the finale. But things changed immediately when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ronaldo-c31734 announced that he would take the last penalty.
Sure, the pressure of scoring the possible match winning kick was something that enticed the Real Madrid star and he should definitely be the one to take it, but the game never went that far and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 were in another major final in less than two years.
Speculation has been rife as to why Ronaldo did not take an earlier penalty, but Luis http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nani-c27299 has come out and revealed the captain’s decision, saying that he insisted on going last.
“I don’t think there was any controversy or any mistakes. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-c9622 demanded the last penalty. I said to the coach I would accept any order. It didn’t seem to be a problem to me, because penalty shoot-outs are all about luck and we did not deserve to lose
like that.”
“We obviously left the tournament disappointed because we came so close, but we can also have some satisfaction with what we did there. We really gave it all we had. We showed a lot of quality. In the end Spain simply had more luck than we did because when
it comes to penalties that’s all it’s about,” he said.
Portugal will now next play friendlies in August, when the FIFA match date comes around before resuming their qualifying campaign for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Brazil-c2858 2014.
Tags: