'Why?' – Piers Morgan left baffled by Cristiano Ronaldo TV caption and urges England to be more like him

07/04/2024 07:08 AM

Piers Morgan has blasted the BBC for ‘mocking’ Cristiano Ronaldo after his missed penalty for Portugal.

The 39-year-old had his spot-kick in Portugal’s last 16 victory against Slovenia expertly denied by Jan Oblak in extra-time.

It saw the five-time Ballon d’Or winner burst into tears, where he had to be consoled by his teammates – with Ruben Dias running the length of the pitch to do so.

But Ronaldo soon made amends as he scored first in the shootout, with Portugal going on to knock Slovenia out to set up a quarter-final tie against France on Friday night – live on talkSPORT.

However it didn’t stop the BBC in poking fun at the ex-Manchester United forward in their post-match analysis, referring to Ronaldo as ‘Misstiano Penaldo’ in their highlight caption.

talkSPORT presenters Gabby Agbonlahor, Jeff Stelling and Chelsea legend John Terry all slammed the BBC over the jibe, with talkTV host Morgan the latest to hit out.

Speaking on the talkSPORT Breakfast show, Morgan said: “I think the final will be Portugal vs England and I would never ever bet against Ronaldo.

“People that mock Ronaldo, people like the BBC, I don’t know if you saw this… the BBC did a mocking graphic about 'Penaldo' missing penalties and so on.

“They would never do that to iconic players, right? Why single out Ronaldo?”

Arsenal fan Morgan then insisted that he sees more passion in Ronaldo, who is yet to score at Euro 2024, than any other member in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

He continued: “I saw a great piece by Martin Samuel in the Times this week in which he talked about [Jude] Bellingham and Ronaldo, how you’ve got to let these guys be what they are.

“They are trophy players. They are cock of the walk players. But look at the way the Portugal players rallied around Ronaldo when he got oddly emotional after missing the penalty.

“They knew what it meant to him. They knew he’s carried that team now for you know two decades right. He knows he’s won Portugal a trophy almost on his own right.

“They know that and they will walk over hot coals for him. So people that mock and ridicule Ronaldo need to remember: the guy is, in my estimation, the greatest to ever play the game certainly the greatest goal scorer to ever play the game.

“The passion and desire… if every one of the England players showed even half of the passion that Ronaldo showed the other day from when he missed that penalty to when he then stood up and took the first one when he went to actual penalties, if we showed that passion, that burning desire to win, I’m telling you England will win this tournament.

“But at the moment I see more passion in Ronaldo than I see in the entire England team put together and yet he’s the one who’s been mocked. I say let’s see more of that from our players.

“Let’s see players literally move to tears because they want to win for their country.”

talkSPORT is bringing you live commentary of EVERY game at Euro 2024. Tune in via the website or the app, and follow our live Euro 2024 blog for all the latest news, views and reaction to the big moments.