He might have been on the pitch for only 25 minutes, but Cristiano Ronaldo remained the talking point for four Bengal fans in the stands at the Stade de France the day after Portugal dashed France's Euro Cup dream.
"He fought to stay in the match even after he got hurt twice. But when he fell the third time, he realised that he could not carry on. It was heart-rending to see him tear off the strapping on his left thigh and slap the turf repeatedly in desperate fury," recounted Kamal Mukherjee, a resident of Konnagar, Hooghly.
When Ronaldo was stretchered off, inconsolable in his misfortune, Kangsari Kayal of Bansdroni thought that was the last he would see of the Portuguese striker that night. But he was back on the sidelines at half time. Ronaldo the sidelined star player suddenly rose in his audience's esteem as Ronaldo the team man.
"He was hobbling and yet he was shouting his lungs out - directing, scolding, egging the team on and even indicating the number of minutes left for the final whistle once the goal was scored. I have never seen this side of Ronaldo," said Mihir Kanti Dutta, a Jodhpur Park resident who had represented Bengal in football.
"He seemed to have forgotten his injury in celebration once the goal was scored, hopping about and impatient for the match to end. At the final whistle, he covered his face and turned away, overwhelmed by emotion, and then dragged one of the officials down to the ground in a tight embrace," Kangsari recalled.
In hindsight, Mihir believes Ronaldo's forced exit fired up the team. "When there is a star of his calibre playing, everyone tries to just deposit the ball at his feet. But once he exits, that too with an injury and in emotion-charged circumstances, it puts the onus on all of them to win it for him."
All four Bengal fans had seen Ronaldo play in three matches. "He displayed his sharp football sense in flashes through the tournament. Think of the backheel goal against Hungary. I have seen only Wayne Rooney score like that for Manchester United," said Suprakash Gargari, former East Bengal football secretary and a die-hard CR7 fan.
"That hanging-in-air header in the semi-final was incredible too. Yet, if I give him five out of 10 for his on-field display through the tournament, he gets nine for his passion and team spirit in the final," said Mihir, who has been to three World Cups.
But for Ronaldo, the 1-0 result that plunged 90 per cent of the stadium into gloom would have been harder to stomach, according to the Bengal quartet.
And now for the inevitable comparison. "Both (Lionel) Messi and Ronaldo led their country to the final in search of their maiden trophy. Both left the field in tears. Messi played the match but lost the Copa America. For Ronaldo, the script took a different turn and how!" Mihir signed off.
MOTH OF THE MATCH
of the presence of The Moth that launched a million clicks. PTI
Fly in the ointment
Early on Monday (our time), the UEFA Euro 2016 final between Portugal and France gave social media its new hero. Not Eder, the scorer of the winning goal for Portugal. Not Cristiano Ronaldo, who juggled between coach and non-playing captain for most of the final. It was a moth — yes, the flying bug — that took the Internet by storm.
How did it get in?
Not ‘it’, THEY. There were at least a thousand moths inside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, the venue of the final. A stadium employee forgot to turn the lights off on Saturday night, drawing the winged beasts into the stadium for the Sunday final (presumably without tickets). They were everywhere, but one of them in particular decided to steal the show. And it chose the perfect moment of the moth to do so.
Ronaldo’s Moth
In the 16th minute, when Portugal captain Ronaldo was in tears, after injuring his knee in a collision with France’s Dimitri Payet, the Moth of the Moment mistook Ronaldo’s forehead for a beanbag. It sat there comfortably for a few seconds before flying off. It finally gave the viewers something to talk about in a dull final, and most of them didn’t disappoint. “Best performer of the final: Sissoko, Clattenburg or Ronaldo’s moth?” read Gary Lineker’s tweet.
How did social media react?
Six Twitter accounts of the moth, named ‘Ronaldo’s Moth’, were created within minutes, with the count around 41 by Monday evening. One of them had a staggering 10.7k followers in less than 24 hours. There were also three accounts going by the name ‘Ronaldo’s Moth’s Mother’.
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