JAKARTA - Ronaldo and Pepe, who led Portugal to win the 2016 European Cup, have the opportunity to become the oldest goalscorers in European Cup history if they can find the goal of the Czech Republic on Wednesday, June 19 in the morning.
Currently, the oldest goalscorer's record is still held by Austrian striker Ivica Vastic (38 years) in the 2008 European Cup.
"If you call Cristiano and Pepe, they bring experiences that other players don't have. They are the oldest players in this tournament," Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said, as reported by AFP on Tuesday, June 18.
Martinez said his team needed Cristiano Ronaldo (39 years) and Pepe (41 years) to share experiences with young players.
Portugal has a number of players under 23 years of age including Antonio Silva, Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Francisco Conceicao and Goncalo Ramos. The coaches also hope that they can gain knowledge from Ronaldo and Pepe.
"Ronaldo is very important in tournaments, both the European Cup and the World Cup, the key is a mix of talented youth and experience," Martinez said.
"We have young players. So we need all of this, they all have to study together, be committed, and that's important to us," said the former Belgian coach and Everton.
Defender Ruben Dias said that the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo made Portugal more confident in looking at the European Cup this year. CR7 became Portugal's top scorer with 130 goals.
The Al Nassr striker was also the European Cup's top scorer with 14 goals, ahead of French legend Michel Platini with nine goals.
"In my opinion, he inspires, he represents that anything is possible, he represents everything you can dream of, and achieves it," said the Manchester City centre-back.
"He's our captain and we're ready to follow him until the end," said the 27-year-old defender.
Portugal joins group F with the Czech Republic, Georgia and Turkey.
SEE ALSO:
List of oldest goalscorers in the European Cup:
Ivica Vastic 38 years, 257 days (Austria vs Poland, June 12, 2008)
Goran Pandev - 37 years old, 321 days (Macedonia vs Austria, 13 June 2021)
Zoltan Gera - 37 years old, 61 days (Hongaria vs Portugal, June 22, 2016)
Gareth McAuley - 36, 194 days (North Ireland vs Ukraine, June 16, 2016)
Cristiano Ronaldo - 36 years, 138 days (Portugal vs France, 23 June 2021)
Luka Modric - 35 years, 286 days (Croasia vs Scotland, June 22, 2021)
Andriy Shevchenko - 35 years 256 days (Ukraine vs Sweden, 11 June 2012)
Giorgos Karagounis - 35 years 102 days (Greece vs Russia, 16 June 2012)
Jan Koller - 35 years 77 days (Czech Rep vs Turkey, 15 June 2008)
Christian Panucci - 35 years, 62 days (Italy vs Romania, 13 June 2008)
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