You never know what you’re going to get from Cristiano Ronaldo.
The man on whom the hopes of an entire nation relied has been nothing if not inconsistent since Euro 2016 got underway.
And for a perfect snapshot of how frustrating, yet fantastic, Ronaldo can be on any given day, his showing against Hungary in Portugal’s final Group F tie is the perfect crystallisation of his tendencies.
First, we saw precisely what we’ve become accustomed to seeing from him at this tournament.
The “free kick specialist” was handed three more opportunities to convert set pieces into goals but, again, his decline in reliability over dead balls led to even more racking up of failed attempts.
Literally no point in going up if Ronaldo has a free kick. You'd just think after 39 failed attempts he'd try and pass it.
— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawTel) June 22, 2016
It's 39 now.
A Ronaldo free-kick goes high.
and wide.#HUNPOR
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) June 22, 2016
Then the Real Madrid ace put his free kick woes behind him as he decided to break a pretty impressive record.
Ronaldo made a glorious near post run and punished some lacklustre Hungary defending by flicking it beyond Gabor Kiraly.
That goal meant that he became the first player in history to score in four European Championships but, just when it seemed that Ronaldo had turned the corner and was about to start banging them in for fun, the less admirable side of his game reared its ugly head.
After blocking a free kick, Ronaldo failed to put pressure on Balázs Dzsudzsák and, instead, just furiously pointed at a teammate to close him down.
The strike took a deflection and into the top corner it went.
And after the concession came the hilarious temper tantrum.
But then, at the other end of the pitch, Ronnie popped up with a typically powerful header that made it 3-3 in the most entertaining game of the tournament thus far.
With 10 minutes left to play, Ronaldo was chasing a late winner but, in the process, threw himself to the ground in an attempt to fool the referee into awarding a free kick (that would inevitably have been hammered into the wall) but the official was not buying the playacting.
Bad dive that Ronaldo lad
— Himmy Butler 🇨🇲 (@MrJayBreezy) June 22, 2016
Dive. That was a dive. #Ronaldo #POR
— Chanel Diane (@Chanelly1215) June 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/jordz8687/status/745671684129161217
…And just seconds later, the 31-year-old was caught offside.
Ronaldo was offside. #POR vs #Hun
— Sunny 🏆 🇵🇸 (@Its_SuNnYzzZ_77) June 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/thomas_elliott/status/745671893399781376
https://twitter.com/FCBTim_/status/745671864039649280
And then, entering added time, a free kick was awarded after Ronaldo went down about 40 yards from goal.
Guess what happened?
Another awful free-kick from Ronaldo. He's been brilliant today but he has to stop taking those. An appalling ratio.
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) June 22, 2016
Another Ronaldo free kick goes over
— P (@ForeverBlue_07) June 22, 2016
Another Ronaldo free kick. Another one that didn't even test the goalkeeper!
— Neil Cooper (@NCHammer1980) June 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/GoonerJaga/status/745674599480889344
At least he’s never boring!
