The last six months have not been the easiest for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star helped his national team reach the World Cup in Qatar the hard way, after featuring in the play-offs, but since those March matches, he was back in a struggling Manchester United side. Ronaldo was reportedly unhappy with how the team played and how they never stood a chance in reaching the top four finish in the Premier League, thus failing to reach the Champions League qualification. This led to a tough summer for the former Real Madrid man, as he wanted to find himself a club where he could continue playing in Europe’s most prized competition. But after a lot of turmoil, rumours and a missed pre-season with Man United, Cristiano stayed at Old Trafford.
But things were still to improve. He started just one of the first six Premier League matches in Erik ten Hag’s team, and the Dutchman had let him feature more prominently in the two Europa League games. It was only against Sheriff that United won the match when fielding Ronaldo in the starting XI and it was only in that game that Cristiano scored his first goal of the campaign – from the penalty spot. So there have been a lot of questions surrounding Ronaldo, considering he turned 37 last February. Many concerns were brought up about whether he will be able to help United as much as fans are hoping or even if he is the right fit for a Ten Hag side. But despite all these stories in the media, the Portuguese superstar has no doubts.
In fact, Cristiano Ronaldo just announced that his big wish is to be ready to play for Portugal at the European Championship in 2024 which is set to be held in Germany. Ronaldo said this during the Quinas do Ouro ceremony in Portugal, where he was presented with an award for everything he has done for Portuguese and world football, by the Portuguese Football Federation.
If this was to actually happen, Ronaldo would feature at EURO 2024 at the age of 39. He would in his 40th year of life and he would be featuring at his sixth European Championship. That would be a historic record set, that probably no one would be able to change any time soon. Right now, Ronaldo is co-holder of that record, with his former teammate Iker Casillas. Both of them have played at five different Euros, with Ronaldo starting the journey in 2004 in his native Portugal. Since, he managed to bring Portugal their first big trophy, winning Euros in 2016. In 2021, Portugal were far from retaining the title, but apparently, Ronaldo would love to have another run at possibly winning it.
But a lot more is to happen before that becomes a real possibility. Portugal will first play at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in November and December. And after that, Ronaldo will have to continue proving his critics wrong, featuring for Manchester United. At his age, EURO 2024 is still a long way from here, but knowing Cristiano Ronaldo – he will do his absolute best to be in Germany in 18-months’ time.
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