The object of Portugal’s game seemed to be to try and create chances for Ronaldo. His night had kicked off with Turkey’s Arda Guler having taken his record as the youngest ever scorer at a Euros, with a brilliant goal against Georgia striking the net with him aged 19 years and 114 days – 14 days younger than Ronaldo was in 2004.
To put Ronaldo’s longevity further into perspective two members of the Portugal squad – Antonio Silva and Joao Neves – were born after he made his international debut.
An opportunity came for him. He had already mistimed a header from Rafael Leao’s cross, he had already involved himself in a running debate with the Italian referee Marco Guida over a series of perceived fouls and slights, before finally he was sent clear on goal.
It came from a wonderful, defence-slipping pass from Bruno Fernandes – who is clearly now the heartbeat of the side – but Ronaldo was denied. He may have been marginally offside but, even so, his shot was smothered by goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek who rushed out alertly. Then, on half-time, Ronaldo was again picked out and was allowed to turn and shoot – only for Stanek to beat the ball out.
It was Portugal making all the running; applying all the pressure. The Czechs sat back with a five-man defence and tried to soak it up. Their ploy was to try and break quickly and surely they had to try and expose Pepe at the centre of Portugal’s defence who, at 41 years and 113 days, became the oldest player to ever feature at a Euros.
But the Czechs were almost undone when Portugal countered and the impressive Vitinha ran onto Ronaldo’s backheel. However the Paris St-Germain midfielder was crowded out before he could shoot.
Could Portugal make the breakthrough? They were fully in control and kept probing with those clever midfield technicians Fernandes and Bernardo Silva.
The 368 passes Portugal made in the first-half was the most, so far, by any nation in this tournament before the interval. It reflected their talent and also their dominance. It really was attack versus defence.
But there was frustration also and that was shown as Leao was rightly booked after throwing himself in search of a penalty on the area’s edge when Tomas Soucek came across to cover. Ronaldo argued about that one while, before it, Leao was inches away from turning in another intelligent pass from Fernandes.
If anything Portugal became even more dominant. And another chance fell to Ronaldo who was unfortunate when his header struck the shoulder of a defender and flew over. Seconds later and Soucek did well to glance a cross away as Ronaldo shaped to head that also.
When a free-kick was earned, centrally, 25 yards out, Ronaldo’s name rang out. The camera phones were ready, there was an intake of breath – and he planted the ball straight into the arms of Stanek, the Slavia Prague goalkeeper whose previous clubs include Everton. They sent him on loan to non-league Hyde Town.
And so, inevitably, the Czechs scored with Pepe heading a cross to Vladimir Coufal who teed up Lukas Provod. Outside the area his first-time shot swept away from goalkeeper Diogo Costa and into the net. Remarkable. And right in front of the Czech fans.
Portugal were stunned. They had made all the running and had been hit with a sucker punch. The ineffective Leao went off, replaced by Diogo Jota, and they pushed on. Still they were fortunate to draw level with a header from Nuno Mendes, pushed out by Stanek only for the ball to rebound off defender Robin Hranac and into the goal.