Merino strikes at the death for Spain to send Portugal and Ronaldo limping out

It ended with a goal from a tall, slightly ungainly figure driving through the centre-forward position – but perhaps not the one that the narrative demanded. In injury time, Mikel Merino ran on to Ferran Torres’s through-ball and, with an impressive calm after a scrappy game that had largely lacked it, rolled the winner past Diogo Costa. He celebrated, as he had at the Euros two years ago, with a run around the corner flag, echoing his father’s celebration after scoring for Osasuna in Stuttgart in 1991, whole at the other end, another centre-forward slumped. For Cristiano Ronaldo, this was the end.

In truth, Ronaldo’s end has been coming for at least four years, since the last-16 tie at the Qatar World Cup when he was left out against Switzerland and his replacement Gonçalo Ramos scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 win. It wouldn’t be fair to say he bowed out not with a bang but with a whimper, because in truth it wasn’t even that. This was the least effective of farewells.

Continue reading...