Cristiano Ronaldo faces Patrik Schick in battle of top marksmen from Euro 2020

LEIPZIG – The joint top scorers at the last European Championship will face each other as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal play Patrik Schick’s Czech Republic in their Euro 2024 Group F opener on June 18.

Ronaldo and Schick both scored five times at the pandemic-delayed Euro in 2021 and are likely to shoulder the scoring burden for their sides again.

Said Ronaldo: “We’ll face each other as the two top scorers from the previous Euro. Maybe that will make it more interesting. But whether it’s Portugal, Turkey or Georgia, the importance of the match stays the same and that’s how we approach it.”

Schick added of the Portuguese: “It’s unbelievable – just remarkable. Hats off to him that he’s still able to play at the highest level. He’s truly unique.”

The tournament could be Ronaldo’s international swansong, although the 39-year-old appears as hungry for goals and adulation as ever as he prepares to kick off his sixth Euro.

While he may have moved away from Europe’s elite to play in Saudi Arabia, the goal-getting instincts of the leading scorer in men’s international football remains sharp.

Having finished second behind top scorer Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku (14) in qualifying with 10 goals and netted 35 times in 31 league games for Al-Nassr last season, the seemingly ageless Ronaldo warmed up for the tournament with a brace in their final friendly against Ireland.

While Ronaldo lifted the trophy in 2016, he may still be harbouring a sense of unfinished business on the international stage.

Having sat out most of that final eight years ago through injury, he has failed to propel Portugal to further glory at two subsequent World Cups or at Euro 2020, when they were knocked out in the last 16.

This is one of Portugal’s most gilded generations but with Ronaldo and 41-year-old defender Pepe in the twilight of their careers, Euro 2024 feels like a last hurrah.

Portugal are, on paper, one of the best teams in Germany. They won all of their 10 games in the qualifiers, scoring 36 and conceding twice. “I believe this generation deserves to win a competition of this magnitude,” Ronaldo said upon arrival in Germany.

Yet their coach Roberto Martinez knows all about the pitfalls of leading a supremely talented bunch of players at international tournaments, having failed to turn Belgium’s so-called “Golden Generation” into winners.

Martinez, however, also knows he has arguably the game's best in Ronaldo.

“We have 23 players. We create competitiveness and the game makes decisions,” the Spaniard said earlier in June. “But Cristiano is prepared to help the team and give everything he can give. And there is no other player in the world of soccer who can bring what Cristiano can to the dressing room.”

Schick, who won goal of the tournament at Euro 2020 for his stunner against Scotland from the halfway line in the group stage, will spearhead a Czech side with very different expectations.

The Czechs, who reached the last eight in 2021, finished second in qualifying behind Albania, winning four of their eight matches in a group that also included Poland, Moldova and the Faroe Islands.

With Schick absent from the final rounds of qualifying, they found goals hard to come by. But fresh from winning the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, the 28-year-old seems to have shaken off the injuries that hampered him and that could spell trouble for Portugal.

His teammates welcomed their star striker’s return. Said midfielder Lukas Provod: “He has got a great appetite for playing and I’m really happy he’s recovered, because the injury he had, when I had the chance to speak with him, sounded really serious.”

Forward Mojmir Chytil added: “It is superb to train with him. I try to learn things from him. He has an amazing first touch and left foot.” REUTERS, AFP