Portugal cruised past Turkey 3-0 in their second Group F game of the 2024 European Championship at the Signal Iduna Park on Sunday, June 23 (Philippine Standard Time).
However, the talking point of the game centered around Portugal skipper Cristiano Ronaldo, as the match was marred by five different fans/spectators invading the pitch at various points to get a selfie with the 39-year-old.
A sixth fan failed in his attempt to invade the pitch, but did manage to cause a steward to slip and crash into Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos, leading him to get knocked down. At first, Ronaldo looked content to pose with a selfie with a young boy but increasingly cut a frustrated figure as the game went by.
All the pitch invaders trying to meet Cristiano Ronaldo during Euro match vs Turkey #pitchinvader #cristianoronaldo #portugal #turkey #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/pN4P0roU0O
— Sports channel (@Tumo21991) June 23, 2024
This led to Portugal manager Roberto Martinez expressing concern about the safety of his players, believing that such incidents should not take place.
“It is a concern because we were lucky that the intentions of the fans were good. We all love a fan who recognises the big stars and the big icons in their life. We all agree with that. But there is a very, very difficult moments if those intentions are wrong - the players are exposed and we need to be careful with that,” Martinez stated in a press conference.
“I don’t think that should happen on a football pitch. There is a lot of security and a lot of protection and it should not happen. And probably we should give a message to the fans that it’s not the right way, you’re not going to get anything out of it and probably the measures will get worse for the future. It’s not good to have the players so exposed when people are running on the pitch,” he added.
UEFA, European football game’s governing body, confirmed in a statement that safety and security of the players are the ultimate priority and that additional safety measures will be deployed in the stadiums.
UEFA added that following the events of the game, any incursions on to the pitch hereafter will result in expulsion from the stadium and a ban from all tournament matches, in addition to the filing of a criminal complaint on the trespasser.
Ronaldo, for his part, has yet to comment on the issue and he did not let it affect him on the pitch, contributing the assist for Bernardo Silva’s goal. The skipper has now equaled the record for eight assists in European Championship history but has yet to find his name on the scoresheet.
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