In the Portuguese media - nothing new: on Wednesday, Cristiano Ronaldo was featured on the covers of all sports, and not only sports, publications. The Portuguese football star scored four goals against the Lithuanian national team during the European Championship qualifying match and basked in the glory once again, according to lrytas.lt. "Poker from Tuzo," - above the photo of C. Ronaldo surrounded by team mates, sport newspaper "O Jogo" wrote. "The captain scored a poker and surpassed the 700-goal mark," announced another sport newspaper "Record". "Our goal scorer," wrote sport newspaper "A Bola", printing a photo on the cover of a Lithuanian fan breaking into the field and bowing down to the Portuguese football god.
The football theme was important not only for sports publications. "Poker at Ronaldo's party," - one of the headlines on the front page next to the photo of the national team players was written by Lisbon newspaper "Correio da Manha". "Ronaldo's poker ended the Lithuanians," - Porto newspaper "Jornal de Noticias" was one of the few who remembered, on the front page, with whom the Portuguese national football team played on Tuesday evening.
Although the Portuguese won with a resounding 5:1 result, the victory of the visitors at the Vilnius stadium was not as simple as it may seem when looking at the scoreboard's glowing numbers at the end of the match. In the first half, both teams scored once, and the goals into the Lithuanian national team's goal only poured in after the break. Reflecting on why the view changed after the break, the newspaper "Record" emphasized the influence of the Portuguese national team coach: "Changes made by Fernando Santos determined the goals rained in the second half."
Portugal's breakthrough was also aided by a mistake from Lithuanian national team goalkeeper Ernestas Setkus. "In fact, the second goal by C. Ronaldo was funny, and the Lithuanian goalkeeper looked very poor," wrote "Jornal de Noticias". Even the Portuguese had doubts about the penalty awarded at the beginning of the match into the Lithuanian goal and the third goal, which C. Ronaldo might have been offside when scoring. "The penalty, after which CR7 scored the first goal, was questionable. Doubts also arise about the captain's position when scoring the third goal, but it seems he was in line with the defenders," no clear opinion was formed by "Correio da Manha".
However, after examining all questionable situations, "Record" concluded: "The defender's hand was in an unnatural position and moved. The penalty was rightfully awarded." Doubts were also dispelled by the accompanying photo. Nevertheless, the level of the teams was too different, so Portuguese football pundits did not bother to deep dive into the match. More attention was paid to C. Ronaldo's goal statistics and his chances to surpass Iranian Ali Daei, who is considered the top goal scorer in national team matches. Although the difference is still significant (A. Daei scored 109 goals while playing for the national team, C. Ronaldo - 93), the Portuguese believe in their star. "Ronaldo threatens A. Daei's record," - no doubt from "Record". "CR7, after another magical evening, aims for A. Daei's record," stated the newspaper "Diario de Noticias".
Rolandas V. Eidvilas, lrytas.lt
