If it had been thought that the cult of Cristiano Ronaldo was diminishing, you only had to listen to the man who is notionally supposed to be his superior. Portugal manager Roberto Martinez was asked about Bruno Fernandes’ goal in the 56th minute against Turkey, which to most people looking on would have just been a striker squaring to his teammate for an easy finish; think Brian McClair to Paul Ince in the 1994 FA Cup final. The only notable thing about it was that someone as intensely obsessed with his own scoring record as Cristiano Ronaldo had actually passed the ball, but that kind of surprise wasn’t really the emotion that Martinez was conveying. He was going for more.
“It is fantastic to have Cristiano, who is an out-and-out goalscorer who lives for the goal and then he gets in front of the goalkeeper, and he looks for the pass to Bruno Fernandes. It is a pure moment of Portuguese football, that should be shown in every academy in the world, and that means more than any goal.”
