Didi Hamann offers scathing assessment of Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2024 — 'He doesn’t care about anyone but himself'

The Portuguese were eliminated in the quarter-finals by France, but Hamann thinks the team was good enough to defeat the French and mount a title challenge — if not for Ronaldo's presence.

Speaking to TopOffshoreSportsBooks, retired Germany international Hamann stated that Ronaldo's insistence of being a centrepiece of the Portugal team is what stopped them from advancing further than they did.

"In terms of Cristiano Ronaldo’s tournament, I think Portugal had a huge chance to go deep into the competition and they didn’t get there because he insisted on playing," Hamann said.

"[Portugal manager] Roberto Martinez said that he had the final say but I struggle to believe that was the case because Ronaldo would’ve been taken off or even benched against France.

"I think he's probably realised as well that he can't cut it anymore at the top. I just found it bizarre for a player of his stature, who has scored more than a thousand goals in his career, played in the third group game when they have already qualified.

"It’s clear it was because he wanted to be the one who scores in so many consecutive tournaments. Going to a tournament at his age and still making it all about himself, I think that is pretty poor."

Ronaldo famously scored in each of the European Championship tournaments he participated in prior to this summer's edition — 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 — and could have added another unique milestone to his sparkling career had he netted in a sixth tourney. It was the pursuit of that particular milestone, Hamann said, that drove Ronaldo to insist on playing nearly every minute of the tournament at 39 years old.

"I think it was just an outrageous act of selfishness," he said. "It just goes to show that he played an individual sport for the last 20 years. He doesn’t care about anyone by himself. 

"He did pretty good at it, you've got to give him credit. He played an individual sport in a team's environment, in a team's game, won a lot of things, got a lot of goals, and he showed how good he was. 

"But I think it was just a shame. He could have gone out of this tournament a hero if he cared about the team, if he showed he was a team player. He pretended to be for one or two games, but then he went back to his old ways."

Hamann invoked the name of Ronaldo's biggest rival, Lionel Messi, in his assessment of the Portuguese icon's play at Euro 2024, stating that the Argentine wouldn't put himself ahead of the team in the same manner Hamman believes Ronaldo did.

"It's not about his mentality, but you've got to think about the team first," he said. "I can tell you one thing, they've been the best players in the world for the last 20 years but if Messi was in a state where he couldn't help the team anymore, he would 100% not insist on playing.

"He would say to the manager, you know what, I don't think I can cut it anymore. Start with another formation. If you need me for the last 20 minutes, 30 minutes when the other players get tired, I might be able to do a bit of magic.

"But no way he would have occupied a space where somebody else would have played a better, a much better role."

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