EXCLUSIVE PHOTO Portuguese footballers landed in Prague. What about Ronaldo?
photo: Georgi Bidenko, PrahaIN.cz (as well as other photos in the article)/Portuguese players such as Bruno Fernandes landed in Prague
The national team meeting is in full swing and the final matches of the League of Nations are approaching. The Czechia will start against Portugal on Saturday in Vršovice. Eden is already sold out several days in advance. It is clear that some part of the fans will come to the match mainly because of the opponent. This is the famous Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo. Will the five-time Champions League winner start in the starting eleven? The star-studded national arrived on Thursday evening on an Airbus A340.
The Portuguese international will spend two nights in Prague before the Nations League match. Even on Thursday afternoon, Cristiano Ronaldo and co. against Portugal. At 8 p.m. in the evening, he was already landing at Václav Havel Airport in Prague. The 2016 European champions traveled on an Airbus A340-313.
The PrahaIN.cz reporter managed to photograph the arrival of the Czech Republic’s rival. Supporters of the squad such as Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Neves, João Mário, or Rúben Dias were spotted.
It was not possible to see the football player, because of which many spectators are going to Eden.
We are talking about none other than Cristiano Ronaldo, the idol of countless young footballers. The Portuguese is an idol for millions of football fans around the world. Burkina Faso, Paraguay, Australia, Bangladesh, Estonia, the Czechia, this is only a small list of countries where Cristiano Ronaldo has his admirers.
This is due to his famous career and not only individual achievements.
The Portuguese is a five-time winner of the millionaire Champions League. He is also a multiple champion of the Spanish, English and Italian leagues. He managed to win the Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world five times.
His probably most famous engagement was at Real Madrid. However, he got a glimpse of world football at Manchester United, to whose jersey he announced his return a year ago.
Return of dreams?
Big things were coming.
Ronaldo first worked in the Red Devils jersey between 2003 and 2009, when he came to England from Sporting Lisbon. He won the league championship three times in England. At the moment, however, United have been waiting for a trophy for a good number of years.
He last dominated the Premier League in the 2012/2013 season. He has been waiting for a league triumph even longer than football club Sparta Prague.
Anyway, Cristiano Ronaldo did not completely disappoint with his individual performances. In the team concept, it’s different. Manchester United have been mired in crisis in recent years, but they keep coming. Even after the great comeback of the Portuguese international, the Red Devils were unable to finish better than sixth in the Premier League last season.
CR7 scored eighteen goals in the league, adding another six in the Champions League.
From this season, coach Erik Ten Hag took over the Manchester United squad. He earned the attention of clubs from Europe after his engagement in Ajax. There was not much missing and he could have been in Sparta. The Letenský club was interested in him in 2015, when he coached the junior team of Bayern Munich. The meeting eventually fell through.
The ambitious coach received new reinforcements. For example, Anthony from Ajax or Casemiro from Real Madrid came to Old Trafford. The position of goalkeeper for the English cups will be filled by the newly arrived Martin Dúbravka, who wore the Sparta jersey four years ago.
The star reinforcements meant only one thing for the fans, the desire to win trophies again.
Unpleasant stats for a star forward
But the beginning of the season did not go as expected. The Red Devils had zero points and a score of 1:6 after two rounds played. The star Cristiano remained on the bench for the next trio of matches, he intervened in the match only in the middle. In the three matches described, Manchester United won the full number of points.
CR7 started in the starting eleven only at Real Socieadad in the Europa League. In addition to the unusual sight for the fans, when the star footballer has the orange logo of the Europa League on his shirt, not the blue of the Champions League, Manchester United lost again.
Up until now, the rule has been that if Ronaldo starts at the base, the Devils lose.
In his place, the twenty-four-year-old Marcus Rashford acted at the tip. He is a member of the club and this season, as far as statistics are concerned, he has performed well. In six Premier League matches, he netted three times and assisted twice. It was so clear that Ronaldo would have a hard time returning to the starting eleven. This was also confirmed by the fact that with Rashford in the attack, it was won almost every time.
Rashford then got injured. The following week, the Premier League was suspended due to the death of the Queen. Manchester United was waiting for another match until the Europa League. It was obvious that the thirty-seven-year-old Portuguese gunner would start in the attack against Sherif Tiraspol.
For the first time in the season, he opened the net from penalties. The Red Devils won 0:2.
Will Ronaldo start against Eden?
The national team meeting is in full swing, the last home match of the Czech Republic in the League of Nations is approaching. Already on Saturday from 8:45 p.m., the wards will challenge the coach of the dashing Portuguese native. And although only a little over 12,000 spectators arrived against Switzerland due to high ticket prices, the match against the Portuguese is sold out.
From Friday, the Portuguese midfielder will be preparing in Prague.
And also Cristiano Ronaldo, who is certainly one of the biggest attractions of the entire team for Czech viewers. Many child footballers have the opportunity to see their idol for the first time in their lives. The attacker will be playing for Portugal on the Prague turf for the first time in his international career.
However, nothing is certain. We cannot say in advance that Cristiano Ronaldo will start. At the beginning of the season, he does not have a dazzling form, he made his first breakthrough only from a penalty against Tiraspol. In the aforementioned match, he at least broke his curse from this season, which said – if CR7 starts in the starting lineup, he will lose.
For example, Diego Jota from Liverpool or Rafael Leao could theoretically replace the Portuguese star. However, moving to a wing position can also be a variant.
Let us be surprised.