Cristiano Ronaldo is like The Revenant: self-belief that just won’t die | Rob Smyth

Love him or – as most seem to – loathe him, the Portugal primadonna’s claims to being the greatest player of his generation will be enhanced only if he leads them to unlikely Euro 2016 glory in Sunday’s final with France

In the autumn of 2002, when some unwise people suggested Sir Alex Ferguson was over the hill, the great Hugh McIlvanney sounded a note of caution. “The most crazily virulent of his denouncers have been telling him he is lucky to be holding on to his job,” wrote McIlvanney in the Sunday Times. “Maybe they should make sure he is properly buried before devoting themselves too gleefully to dancing on his grave. He could be a pretty awkward revenant.”

That last phrase has regularly sprung to mind in recent weeks, and not only because of the omnipresent DVD of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar-winning portrayal of a Brian Kilcline lookalike. The main reason is that Cristiano Ronaldo has become the awkward revenant of Euro 2016. In the group stages, when he absurdly denounced Iceland’s “small mentality” and missed a penalty against Austria, his critics did a lot more to his grave than just dance on it.

Related: David Squires on … Portugal and France reaching the Euro 2016 final

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