In a historic night at Euro 2024, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to feature in six European Championships, as Portugal came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in Leipzig on Tuesday.
At 39, Ronaldo marked another milestone in his illustrious career, which began with his tournament debut in 2004, where Portugal finished as runners-up. He later led his nation to their first major international trophy at Euro 2016. Despite now playing for Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, Ronaldo was selected by Portugal's coach Roberto Martinez, who lauded the veteran’s enduring goal-scoring ability.
Ronaldo started Portugal’s opening Group F match but had a subdued performance, with a late header hitting the post and being disallowed by VAR for offside. Nonetheless, Portugal persevered, and substitute Francisco Conceição clinched a dramatic victory with a 92nd-minute goal.
The match saw Portugal dominate but fall behind when Lukáš Provod scored a stunning long-range goal in the 62nd minute. Portugal equalized shortly after, benefiting from a goalkeeping error by Jindřich Staněk that led to an own goal by Czech defender Robin Hranáč.
Ronaldo, the all-time top scorer in European Championship history with 14 goals, now has the chance to become the oldest scorer in the tournament. Additionally, defender Pepe, at 41 years and 113 days, became the oldest player to feature in a European Championship match.
Portugal's next fixtures are against Turkey on Saturday and Georgia the following Wednesday.
