Didi Hamann has slammed Cristiano Ronaldo as ’embarrassing’ after cried on the pitch following his penalty miss against Slovenia.
Ronaldo’s extra-time penalty was superbly saved by Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak keeping the score goalless.
The 39-year-old forward was seen in tears at half-time in extra-time, with team-mates consoling him following the miss.
Portugal would eventually win 3-0 in a penalty shootout with Diogo Costa keeping out all three Slovenian spot-kicks, while Ronaldo converted his effort before apologising to fans.
Former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Hamann, speaking on Irish TV station RTE, blasted Ronaldo’s reaction as ’embarrassing’ and claimed the forward only thinks about himself.
‘Thirty-nine-year-old plays 120 minutes, he misses a penalty and I’ve got to say, I bought into all that “Ronaldo has turned into a team player because he needs the team more than he used to”. I bought into that nonsense as well, but I think he showed his true colours again tonight,’ Hamann said.
‘Missing the penalty, he starts crying on the pitch, he starts crying at half-time in extra-time. And I’m thinking “it’s all about you”.
‘There’s a squad of 26 players, there’s 20 staff, there’s 30 or 40,000 fans in there, it’s not about you.
‘You try to be mutual, but I was cheering Slovenia on because I though the reaction was embarrassing, I thought it was out of order.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it, because once you show emotions, once you get emotional, it’s the end of it.
‘So that was the point where the manager had to say, “you’ve got to come off because you’re not in the right frame of mind to carry on playing”.
‘Credit to him he took the first penalty and he took it well, it was a very good penalty, but as I said I bought into all that “Ronaldo’s turned into a team player”, it’s absolute nonsense.
‘All he thinks about is himself.
‘He scores the penalty and apologises to the fans, he doesn’t need to apologise. He will start the next game but I can’t see any other outcome than a France win.’
Ronaldo is yet to score at Euro 2024 and has now gone eight matches without a tournament goal for Portugal.
The forward explained his emotional reaction to the penalty miss to Portuguese broadcaster RTP post-match, admitting he had gone from ‘initial sadness’ to ‘joy in the end’.
‘It is without a doubt my last European Championship. But I don’t get emotional about that, I get emotional about everything that football involves,’ Ronaldo said.
‘Because of the enthusiasm I have for the game, the enthusiasm of seeing my supporters, my family, the affection that people have for me.
‘It’s not about leaving football, because if I do, what else would I need to do or win? It won’t be about getting one more point or one less point. Making people happy is what motivates me the most.
‘We have a tough game now against France, who are one of the favourites to win.
‘But we’re going to war, the team is doing well and I’ll always give my best in this shirt. I missed the penalty but I wanted to be the first to score, because you have to take responsibility. I’ve never been afraid to face the usual things.’