European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
On both days, the broadcast starts at 18:15 on TV2, Areena, app and moment by moment monitoring.
Friday 5.7.
19:00 Spain-Germany
At 22:00 Portugal-France
Saturday 6.7.
19:00 England-Switzerland
At 22:00 Holland-Turkey
Today’s hottest superstar meets his idol. Real Madrid’s future meets its past. The icon who won a whopping five Ballon d’Ors meets the future Ballon d’Or collector.
There is a lot of symbolism in this meeting of football’s great gladiators. The other is in the early part of his career, despite his great achievements. For another, these are the last European Championships.
25 years old Kylian Mbappé meets the 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.
The first shot to world fame from the drug and violence-ridden Bondy, a poor residential area in the suburbs of Paris. And another from Madeira, from a poor family, where the father killed himself.
There has already been a lot of talk about both of them in the EC tournament.
Before the tournament, Mbappé made a very unusual political statement.
In the opening match of the tournament, Mbappé broke his nose and has since played with different mask settings.
In a dramatic quarter-final, Ronaldo missed a penalty kick and burst into inconsolable tears. In the penalty shootout itself, Ronaldo scored a perfect shot.
Mutual admiration
In the previous four meetings between them, Mbappé has not been able to celebrate the victory over Ronaldo. In those matches, Ronaldo scored five goals, Mbappé zero.
When Real beat PSG in the playoffs in the spring of 2018, at the end of the season, Ronaldo celebrated his fourth and final Champions League victory at Real.
Mbappé is Real’s new galáctico. When Mbappé’s transfer to Madrid was confirmed, sports media around the world remembered how Mbappé grew up with Ronaldo posters on his wall.
A photo from 2012 of Real Madrid’s training ground in Valdebebas circulated again on social media. 13-year-old Mbappé met the superstar he admired, Ronaldo, for the first time.
In 2020, Mbappé praised Ronaldo as his idol on Twitter.
When Mbappé moved to Real Madrid, Twitter had changed to X, but the mutual admiration remained. “I’m excited to see you shine at the Bernabeu,” Ronaldo wrote.
Mbappé is the future of Real Madrid and the present of France. France has been one of the favorites to win the European Championship gold since 2000. However, for that, France needs a better Mbappé, even though the nose is on the nose and the mask is on the face.
Ronaldo has already left the spotlight of European club football. In Portugal’s EC matches, he has opened Germany in every one, even though there has been rain of criticism and wonder.
Before the Games, Portugal and France were perhaps the biggest champion favorites. France was already quiet in the first group and Portugal had problems in the quarterfinals. Spain, Germany and the Netherlands have indeed driven ahead in the estimates of the prestigious statistical service Gracenote.
Talk about a “disruptor”
Former national team player of Portugal José Fonte wrote about Ronaldo aptly column on the BBC. He said he always laughs when it is claimed that Ronaldo is somehow a distraction for his national team.
Fonte raved about how Ronaldo has always led both with his speech and by example.
– When he goes to the gym earlier than others, does physical therapy and prepares his body and mind, he pulls others along.
– He led, we followed. I remember us going to ice baths and saunas at 2 a.m. because of him. Besides the physical recovery, the most important thing was that we did everything together, the whole team.
Wherever the Portuguese team went, everyone was after Ronaldo. Ronaldo has been able to handle the publicity mill – at the same time he has offered peace to the rest of the national team.
Hardly anyone has ever doubted Ronaldo’s commitment, but even he doesn’t stop the progress of time.
Will Mbappé be at his best?
At Wednesday’s media briefings, Ronaldo and Mbappé were the biggest talking points, less surprisingly, even though neither was present.
Portuguese defender Nuno Mendes represents PSG, so he has been a teammate of both superstars.
– It was a pleasure to play with Mbappé. And it’s a pleasure to play with Cristiano. Two incredible players. Two players who can decide the match at any time.
Mendes believed that Ronaldo breaking down in tears in the middle of the quarter-finals can even help the team.
– It was a difficult moment for him, but we were all ready to help him through it. Obviously, we have to take care of our teammates. We have a very tight group and that made us even stronger to go on and win.
– It was an incredible moment that we will never forget.
France assistant coach Guy Stéphane got to answer questions about Mbappé’s playing condition once again. He stated that the impact of Mbappé’s injury has been underestimated. However, Stéphan added that it doesn’t explain everything about France’s slow moves.
– The shock he received was very traumatic and he currently plays with a mask, which makes playing difficult and affects his vision. That’s what everyone else who played with a mask has said.
Stéphan also explained that Mbappé’s final season with the transfer rumors was exhausting.
– Kylian is still Kylian. I’m not going to go through all the goals he has scored for us since the last European Championships, probably a goal per game.
– He is still a top level player. Sometimes even top players are less good and less active.
Pleasures offered?
Mbappé already has one thing that Ronaldo will hardly ever have: a World Cup.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, has a lot of things that Mbappé is still on his way to. Even in Madrid, Ronaldo is still an iconic brand, after all, there is also a CR7 hotel in the city.
After the Slovenia match, Ronaldo said that today his biggest motivation factor is to make people happy. He attributed his move to everything that football means – the game itself and the supporters.
Before Friday night’s game, the two shake hands and hug as captains of their teams.
After the match ends, they hug again.
It may be that at the same time the baton continues its journey in Hollywood style. Then the master has offered his joy and the apprentice continues towards his idol’s high records.
Since it’s Ronaldo, it could also be that the idol offers the pyrkyr one more lesson.
Sources: BBC, AP, Transfermarkt, Reuters