Roberto Martinez is worried for Cristiano Ronaldo’s safety
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez says he is concerned by the number of pitch invaders being allowed to enter the pitch at EURO 2024 in Germany.
Martinez was speaking after at least three different fans managed to get up close with Cristiano Ronaldo during his side’s 3-0 roasting of Turkey in Dortmund.
The match was repeatedly stopped as a result, much to the frustration of all the players and staff involved.
“It is a concern because today we were lucky that the intentions of the fans were good,” Martinez said in the post-match press conference.
“We all love fans who recognise the big stars and the big icons in their lives.
“You can understand there is a very difficult moment if those intentions are wrong the players are exposed and we need to be careful.
“I don’t think it should happen on a football pitch.
“There is a lot of security and a lot of protection and I don’t think that should happen and we should probably give a message to the fans that it is not the right way.
“You are not going to get anything out of it and probably the measures get worse for the future and it’s not good to get the players so exposed when you’re running on the pitch.”
This apparent security failure at EURO 2024 isn’t the first issue to arise in Germany, with public transport problems also raising questions about the hosts’ competency.
And it’s an area for Ireland to consider ahead of their co-hosting of the competition in 2028 with the UK.
The last time Ronaldo came to Dublin to play against Ireland, a young pitch invader made their way onto the pitch and got a picture with the former Real Madrid superstar.
That individual was, of course, invited onto the Late Late Show about a week later.
