The Cristiano Ronaldo Show is finally over - and not a moment too soon. The last few episodes have been a seriously tough watch, tarnishing season after season of sustained excellence with one painfully dreadful and needlessly drawn-out final act in Germany.
In fairness, Portugal's Euro 2024 quarter-final elimination at the hands of a dreadfully dull France team was hardly his fault. Ronaldo stuck away his penalty in the shootout, which the Seleccao lost 5-3, with Theo Hernandez slotting home the decisive spot-kick after Joao Felix's earlier miss. But the point is that he shouldn't have been still on the pitch at the stage.
A braver manager than Roberto Martinez would have hauled off a forward who'd been a passenger in the game, touching the ball just 40 times in 120 minutes while extending his tournament tally of shots without a goal to a staggering 23. Instead, the Spaniard inexplicably subbed off Bruno Fernandes and Rafael Leao, who'd been far more involved and dangerous than the untouchable Portugal captain.
Below, GOAL rates all of the Portugal players on show as Martinez wasted a glorious chance to do something special with a talented but grossly misused group of players that were all criminally reduced to minor roles in The Cristiano Ronaldo Show...