Protecting Cristiano Ronaldo, Patrice Evra Exposes the Media’s Bias Toward Harry Kane After Portugal Struggled vs. the Czech Republic

Matchday 1 of the group stage finally concluded after Group F teams kicked off their UEFA Euro 2024 campaign. Turkey triumphed over Georgia, while Portugal secured a narrow 2-1 win against the Czech Republic. Yet, despite the win, Roberto Martinez’s side, as well as star player Cristiano Ronaldo, faced a chunk of criticism, something that didn’t settle in the eyes of Patrice Evra.

The Manchester United icon claims that it is ‘not fair’ of the media to be biased against CR7 compared to England’s Harry Kane. During half-time, Patrice Evra was analyzing the 2016 Euro winner’s display, where he predicted the reaction of the fans towards Ronaldo and Co., saying, “If Portugal lose, first headline will say, Cristiano shouldn’t start.”

The left-back, who shared a locker room with the Portuguese superstar, cleared the air that Martinez would never sub off the skipper in the last 10-15 minutes due to his knack for ‘always creating something.’ Likewise, the pundit backed Ronaldo for finding a goal in the dying moments of the game.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as the Al Nassr star missed the scoresheet. Yet, while backing Ronaldo, he dragged England and their skipper, Kane, into the debate. “People are always gonna talk that Portugal are playing bad or take off Ronaldo. I think it’s not fair because if you compare the game of Ronaldo and Harry Kane, Ronaldo will have more opportunities and touch more ball than Kane. But no one is gonna say, ‘Oh, England should take off Harry Kane.’ So I think we have to stop talking about the age of Ronaldo.”

Evra is clearly questioning the media and all the critics for overlooking Kane’s negatives on the pitch, who is younger than CR7. But today, Ronaldo looked quite silent, as it was rather a starlet who saved Portugal.

Cristiano Ronaldo misses the mark as Francisco Conceicao brings it for Portugal

Even during halftime, it was a goalless affair between Portugal and the Czech Republic, until the hour mark in the latter half of the game, when Lukas Provod gave a lead to Ivan Hasek’s side. However, the score leveled just minutes later due to an unfortunate own goal from Robin Hranac.

Despite pushing all the buttons, neither side could find a winner until, in the dying moments of the game, Francisco Conceicao found a lucky tap-in to win it for Os Navegadores.

While this turned out to be a lucky win for Portugal, they will be vigilant in the next one. Special caution is directed towards Cristiano Ronaldo, who failed to capitalize on the majority of chances. The skipper is advised to get his goal-scoring form back in order to avoid becoming a subject of criticism. After all, patrons like Patrice Evra would only be able to defend him to a certain extent. Rest, the Portuguese legend has to look on his own and hit the ground running.