Cristiano Ronaldo is a man that is not routinely accustomed to being upstaged. His refusal to participate in celebrations of goals scored by teammates suggest he doesn’t much enjoy the experience either. But as the Real Madrid superstar and perpetual seeker of limelight prepares to take his bow in these European Championships, one of Portuguese football’s fringe men may finally be ready to step out of the prodigious shadow cast by the three-time world player of the year.
Ricardo Quaresma is Portugal’s nearly man. A stunningly gifted footballer, who was fancied by many to be the one to light up the world stage when emerging from the Sporting youth academy at the same time as Ronaldo, Quaresma’s career has never threatened to scale the dizzying heights reached by his compatriot. The fact that it hasn’t owes a lot to Ronaldo’s relentless dedication to improving himself both technically and physically, but also to the fact that Quaresma does not possess the same iron will or drive to succeed that emanates from every moisturised pore of the former Manchester United star.
But after a nomadic career that has taken in spells at Barcelona, Porto, Inter, a loan spell at Chelsea, an initial stint at Besiktas that ended after a bust-up with coach Carlos Carvalhal, a sojourn to Dubai to play for Al-Ahli, a return to Porto and now another second coming at Besiktas, is Quaresma finally in a place where he is ready to showcase his undoubted ability on the major stage? His recent form would suggest that he may be.
A virtuoso performance in the recent 7-0 thumping of Estonia was punctuated by two goals, the use of his trademark ‘trivela’ ball-striking technique, a ‘rabona’ and an electrifying effect on the Portuguese crowd that seemed to drag a swagger and verve from a supremely talented side which is at times mystifyingly absent. Fresh from an outstanding season at club level where he helped secure the Turkish League title, Portuguese coach Fernando Santos faces huge pressure in his homeland to plump for Quaresma’s mercurial talents ahead of Nani as they kick off their Euro 2016 campaign against Iceland this afternoon.
"It's not a case of Quaresma plus 10, it's Quaresma and another 22,” Santos said. “There are 23 players in the squad and all have equal chances of playing but it's an excellent headache to have.”
If tiny Iceland have any chance of avoiding defeat, their veteran defender Kari Arnason will have to fare slightly better against Ronaldo than on the previous two occasions he has faced him this season with his club side Malmo FF, conceding six goals to Ronaldo alone during those encounters.
Iceland have already achieved the remarkable, defeating the Netherlands twice in qualification to make the finals. With a population roughly half the size of Glasgow, you might think that simply being there would be enough for them, but under Swedish coach Lars Lagerback they have developed a steeliness that could see them cause problems for some of the game’s more celebrated names.
They will almost certainly pack their defence against Portugal and hope to capitalise on the wonderful set-piece deliveries and general individual brilliance of Gylfi Sigurdsson, a formula that served them so well during qualification with the Swansea man bagging six goals. It is an approach that won’t please the football purists, but the romance of the Icelandic tale is enough to surely melt even the coldest of cynical hearts.
Major investment in indoor facilities and coaching has led Iceland to produce talented footballers capable of carrying them onto the major tournament arena while Scotland’s footballers again kick their heels on the sidelines. Apologists for our national side’s failures often cast up our population, arguing that we are a small country in international footballing terms. That may be so, but while Northern Ireland’s presence at these finals is dismissed as the freak result of a lucky draw and a weak qualification section, the same accusation cannot be levelled at Iceland.
In this year of the underdog, it is one more story that serves to reaffirm one’s faith that in football, the established order can be challenged. It is just a shame that it is Iceland, and not Scotland, that are carrying the fight to them. They deserve to be in France, and it may be unwise to back against wily campaigner Lagerback steering them to a positive result this afternoon.
With the ball sure to spend a fair amount of time in Iceland’s defensive third though, the 67-year-old has reminded Turkish referee Cüneyt Çak?r to be on the lookout for the dark arts often employed by his Portuguese opponents.
"Portugal have one of the best players in the world in Ronaldo but he's also an excellent actor," Lagerback said. "In the final of the Champions League against Atletico, we saw another performance from someone who could be in Hollywood.
"I mention Pepe. I mean, you can see the clips…for me, that is acting, really, of high class. But I don't know what demands they have in Hollywood.
"I don't like that. I'd like it if they were able to watch the videos to retrospectively punish that sort of thing."
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