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Cristiano Ronaldo criticizes Iceland’s ‘small mentality’
Talk about sour grapes.
Michael Steele/Getty Images
Even after a poor performance Cristiano Ronaldo manages to dominate the headlines. The Portugal attacker has hit out at Iceland’s “small mentality” after the Euro 2016 minnows pulled off arguably the greatest feat in their entire footballing history, holding Ronaldo’s side to a 1-1 draw in their tournament opener on Tuesday. Quoted in the Guardian, Ronaldo said:
“Iceland didn’t try anything,” whined the Portuguese captain. “They were just defend, defend, defend and playing on the counterattack. It was a lucky night for them. We should have three points but we are OK. I thought they’d won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end. It was unbelievable. When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition.”
Stay classy, Cristiano.
Goal of the day
Hungary pulled off a thoroughly impressive victory over Austria yesterday, with Ádám Szalai’s goal the pick of the bunch.
In the news
David de Gea looks set to stay at Manchester United (AS)
English, Welsh and Russian fans have been involved in fresh clashes (Telegraph)
The Premier League has released next season’s fixture list (ESPNFC)
Italy will have Graziano Pellè back from injury in time to play against Sweden on Friday (Eurosport)
Napoli are chasing Serie B hot-shot Gianluca Lapadula (Football Italia)
Zlatan Ibrahimović has been included in Sweden’s provisional Olympics squad (BBC)
With their manager not around to unveil a new signing, St. Pauli used a man in a mask (Guardian)
You should be reading
Gabriele Marcotti has been detailing the pressure currently on Russia coach Leonid Slutsky (ESPNFC)
Daniel Taylor has been lifting the lid on Wayne Rooney’s relationship with Roy Hodgson (Guardian)
Toke Theilade has been telling the story of Andrey Arshavin’s career (These Football Times)
What happened on Tuesday
Copa América
Argentina comfortably beat Bolivia; they’ll now meet Venezuela in the next round
Euro 2016
What to watch on Wednesday (click for listings, all times ET)
Euro 2016: Three games (from 9 a.m.) -- The action starts with Russia vs. Slovakia, and is followed up by Romania vs. Switzerland and France vs. Albania.
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