The Portugal national soccer team recently suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of France in the UEFA Euro 2024. The loss also brings Cristiano Ronaldo’s Euro run to an end as he had announced that this will be his last tournament. Following the Portuguese crash out, Shaquille O’Neal‘s son Shaqir O’Neal took to Instagram to express his feelings.
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The 39-year-old superstar made his debut for the national team at the age of 18. Ronaldo first participated in the Euros in 2004 and this was his record-breaking sixth appearance in the tournament. While there were high hopes from the Portuguese side, especially because this was Ronaldo and Pepe’s last dance, they couldn’t figure out a way past the French team, which was led by Kylian Mbappé.
Shaqir joined millions of fans of the five-time Champions League winner to bid farewell to him with a broken heart. He shared a post by BR Football which showed Ronaldo’s first and last appearance side by side on his IG story. Shaqir added a heartbreak emoji to the story to show that he’s also devastated by this being Ronaldo’s final appearance for his nation in the competition.
Shaqir O'Neal is heartbroken after Portugal's tragic Euros exit pic.twitter.com/UWAVDp7eVQ
— Ballerz Worldwide (@ballaznba) July 7, 2024
The game between Portugal and France ended without a single goal being scored from either side at the end of 120 minutes (Extra time). The expectation from Ronaldo throughout the tournament was that he would be able to step up for his team one last time and score goals. Unfortunately, the 39-year-old couldn’t find the back of the net even once in the tournament, except for his two successful penalties in the shoot-out.
The final decision had to be made via a penalty shoot-out where Ronaldo stepped up for his team and scored the penalty. The final score of the shoot-out was 5-3 in favor of France. Portugal’s Joao Felix missed his penalty for his side, while all five of France’s penalty takes shot theirs to the target.
