Portugal coach, Roberto Martinez, has urged his players and the country to look beyond the European Championship after failing to win the 2024 edition of the competition in the quarter-final stage.
Roberto Martinez became the coach of Portugal months after resigning as the manager of Belgium following an abysmal run in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Martinez led a star-studded Portuguese side to Germany for the Euro 2024 tournament and they were seen as one of the favourites for the title.
However, they didn’t look as promising as expected as they only managed two wins and one defeat in the group stage. They knocked out Slovenia in the round of 16 via penalties.
In the quarter-final stage, they couldn’t stop France who defeated them via penalties after Joao Felix missed their fourth kick of the intense shootout.
One of the biggest downsides of the team was the failure of Portugal’s supposed talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo to score in an open play throughout the competition. Despite the drop in form of the 39-year-old striker, he played all of Portugal’s games in the competition to the displeasure of most football pundits.
In his submission on his team’s performance in Euro 2024, Roberto Martinez stressed that football was cruel and that the good efforts of his players didn’t yield the expected result.
“We need to be proud of the players, who fought and performed very well”, Martinez told reporters in Germany.
“Football is cruel. It was incredible, very difficult, we wanted to give joy to the Portuguese people, and this team showed the values of Portugal.”
“The dressing room is strong and helps players who are going through a difficult time. Only those who take penalties can miss. It is part of football. We did a good job, the dressing room values were very good. We have to look beyond the Euros, there is life after the Euros.”
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