Czech Republic have arrived at Euro 2024 – much to the chagrin of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Lukas Provod was not involved at Euro 2020 due to a serious knee injury, taking time to study a degree before coming back to football. After netting a screamer against the run of play, he took the opportunity to knee-slide on the soaking-wet Leipzig pitch: even FourFourTwo's Matthew Ketchell – who passionately hates those kinds of celebrations – couldn't argue with that one.
CR7 was fuming, after missed chances at his end.
While plenty of Euro 2024 games have started with a bang, Portugal vs Czech Republic was more of a slow-burner – to put it kindly. The best chance of the first half saw Rafael Leao just inches away from toe-poking the ball in, while the Milan star was booked for a dive as perhaps the Portuguese’s most involved forward in the first 45 minutes.
Cristiano Ronaldo was given just a couple of opportunities, as Roberto Martinez’s side struggled to break down a valiant Czech rearguard. On 57 minutes, he was given the chance of a free-kick 30 yards out and fizzed the ball into the goalkeeper's gloves, failing to take advantage from a typical CR7 driving range.
While Ronaldo didn’t have a particularly fun start to Euro 2024, he did at least make history at kick-off, being the first man to appear in six European Championships.
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With plenty of favourites for the tournament in 2024, here's a look at the previous records of some of the bigger nations at the tournament.
