“It will stress him a little bit” - Ex-Liverpool star offers opinion on Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal drought at Euro 2024 ahead of Slovenia clash
Former Liverpool midfielder Don Hutchison believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal drought at Euro 2024 will be playing on his mind. This year's tournament marked the first time that the Portuguese captain failed to score in the group stage of a major international tournament.
Ahead of the Selecao's Euro 2024 Round of 16 clash against Slovenia on July 1 at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Hutchison talked about Ronaldo's failure to score in the tournament so far. The former Everton captain said (via Football Extraaa on Sony Sports Network):
“It [not scoring at Euro 2024 yet] will play on his mind because he’s a goal machine. So it will stress him a little bit. I think the elite players with that mentality will park it to the side and will focus on the game ahead."
“It will be the team that wins it, not just Cristiano. He’s starting to provide other stuff like assists and his appearance record is incredible,” Don Hutchison added.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who made his senior debut for the Selecao in 2003, has won the UEFA European Championship in 2016 and the UEFA Nations League in 2018–19. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is his nation's and overall all-time international leading goal scorer with 130 goals in 210 appearances while providing 47 assists.
"We're not afraid of them" - Slovenia head coach ahead of Euro 2024 Round of 16 clash against Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal
Slovenia national team head coach Matjaž Kek expressed confidence in his squad ahead of their Round of 16 clash against Portugal in Euro 2024. The 62-year-old manager acknowledged the capabilities of the Cristiano Ronaldo-led team and said (via French outlet RFI):
"When you look at their squad list you get a headache, they can rotate, change however much they want. But our approach does not change because of that. I see Portugal as one of the favorites to win the tournament, but Slovenia has not been the favorite in all three group matches, and we're not the favorites tomorrow."
"We're not afraid of them, we're really glad to be able to play against such teams. It will be a tough match, but we're really happy to be able to play it," Matjaž Kek added.
Slovenia were placed alongside Denmark, England, and Serbia in Group C of the tournament and qualified as one of the best third-placed teams. They drew all three of their group games, scoring two goals and conceding two.