Cristiano Ronaldo reacts to Portugal's U-17 European Championship win

Portugal beat France in the final of the U-17 Euros.

Cristiano Ronaldo reacted to Portugal’s victory over France 3-0 in the U-17 European Championship final on Sunday, June 1, at the Arena Kombetare in Tirana, Albania.

In the Albanian capital, Anisio Cabral opened the scoring at the half, and eight minutes later, Duarte Cunha gave the Selecao a two-goal lead. Gil Neves sealed the victory around the hour mark, celebrating their third continental U-17 championship.

Portugal controlled play and led 2-0 at halftime after eliminating champions Italy on penalties in the semifinals. After giving up a third goal, France attempted to rally, hitting the woodwork and forcing numerous saves against the opponent’s goalkeeper.

But the Selecao, who had also won in 2003 and 2016, had done enough to snap their nine-year continental trophy drought. In response to his U-17 teammate’s victory, Ronaldo reacted to their win the following on Instagram Stories (translated from Portuguese):

“Congratulations, stars”

The U-17 head coach, Bino, also lauded his team’s performance and said:

”We knew France had very fast wingers and were always getting lots of players into the box, and we prepared a strategy that worked well. More importantly, it was interpreted very well by my players – that was the key.”

“It’s an incredible feeling to win this tournament with an excellent performance from my players. We faced great teams and, to become European champions as we did, we had to show great consistency.”

Ronaldo has also played for the U-17 team during his teenage years, where he scored five goals and made an assist. After a dismal season with Al-Nassr, Ronaldo has now returned to the national team as they will prepare for the Nations League semi-final against Germany this week.

The 2019 winners of the tournament will hope to reach the final and will look to add another Nations League trophy this year.

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