It ended with a goal from a tall, slightly ungainly figure driving through the centre-forward position – but perhaps not the one that the narrative demanded. In injury time, Mikel Merino ran on to Ferran Torres’s through-ball and, with an impressive calm after a scrappy game that had largely lacked it, rolled the winner past Diogo Costa. He celebrated, as he had at the Euros two years ago, with a run around the corner flag, echoing his father’s celebration after scoring for Osasuna in Stuttgart in 1991, while at the other end, another centre-forward slumped. For Cristiano Ronaldo, this was the end.
In truth, Ronaldo’s end has been coming for at least four years, since the last-16 tie at the Qatar World Cup when he was left out against Switzerland and his replacement Gonçalo Ramos
📰 Source: The Guardian · Read the full article →