Cristiano Ronaldo comforted teammate Pepe after Portugal were knocked out of Euro 2024 by France.
After a cagey 120 minutes, France and Portugal went to a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals of the 2024 European Championships.
Despite coming through a shootout in the previous round thanks to three back-to-back heroic saves from goalkeeper Diogo Costa, Portugal fell short against France.
A missed third penalty from Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix punished by goals from France’s Bradley Barcola and Theo Hernandez meant that the shootout finished 5-3 to the French.
And Portuguese defender Pepe couldn’t hold back tears as he was comforted by team captain Cristiano Ronaldo shortly after the match finished.
Euro 2024 will almost certainly be the final international competition for 41-year-old veteran Pepe, who has 143 caps for his national team.
After 17 years playing for Portugal, the defender has won two trophies with his country, including the 2016 Euros where his team beat France 1-0.
Pepe started all but one of Portugal’s Euro 2024 matches and broke the record for the older player to feature in the European Championships.
Euro 2024 will also be the final international competition for captain Ronaldo, who confirmed the news after Monday’s win over Slovenia.
Previously, Pepe also admitted that: Pepe: “I will retire from international football at the same time as Cristiano. As long as he is there, I will be there to help him bring Portugal forward.”
Ronaldo ended his career at the European Championship with a record of 14 goals. Ronaldo is the only player to participate in 6 European Championships. He also scored in every tournament before coming to Germany.
However, Euro 2024 proved to be a tournament that went too far for his abilities. Ronaldo is still the captain of Portugal – the 2nd international record holder in men’s football, with 130 international goals and 212 appearances.
Ronaldo still showed great effort – the only time he did not play a full match at Euro 2024 was in the group stage against Georgia, when he came on the field in the 66th minute and Portugal was certain to advance. Ronaldo played 120 minutes in the second knockout round match against Slovenia and France…
