Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Havertz and Lukaku in list of most underperforming strikers at Euro 2024 as alarming stat comes to light

Cristiano Ronaldo has topped the list of the most underperforming strikers at Euro 2024. In doing so, he beat the likes of Germany's Kai Havertz and Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku.

The 39-year-old was extremely poor in the competition, failing to net even once after starting all five of Portugal's matches in the tournament. This meant that the likes of Goncalo Ramos and Diogo Jota never got the opportunity to make an impact for their country.

To top it off, a key stat shows how underwhelming Ronaldo's European Championships campaign truly was (via The Sun). It was revealed that he recorded an xG of 3.52, which means that the forward was expected to bag between three to four goals based on the chances he had.

The disparity in xG to the goals recorded was the most for Ronaldo compared to other strikers. For instance. Havertz, who recorded a 3.11 xG, scored two goals in his five appearances for Germany.

Meanwhile, Belgium attacker Lukaku's xG stood at 2.29, and the former Manchester United man failed to find the net. Kylian Mbappe and the Netherlands international Memphis Depay rounded off the top five in this list, recording xG's of 2.02 and 2.00, respectively.

With Ronaldo failing to fire, Portugal did not score a goal in their knockout matches. Eventually, they were eliminated by France in the quarter-final on penalties (5-3) after the game was goalless in 120 minutes.

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Chris Sutton slammed Roberto Martinez after failing to axe Cristiano Ronaldo in Euro 2024

Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2024

Pundit Chris Sutton slammed Portugal manager Roberto Martinez for failing to make bold decisions, such as substituting Cristiano Ronaldo during the match against Slovenia.

While the Portuguese won that Euro 2024 tie on penalties, Ronaldo played the entire 120 minutes, missed a spot kick and failed to make an impact. Before the quarter-final against France, Sutton said (via Mirror):

"But really, I'm looking at Roberto Martinez, someone with such a lack of backbone that I'm surprised he's standing up straight in the technical area. He almost seems scared to axe Ronaldo, who might as well be named Portugal's manager, with the amount of carte blanche he is being gifted in Germany."

Even after criticism, a similar story continued in the quarter-final against France, where Ronaldo played 120 minutes of football. After failing to make much of his time in that match as well, it remains uncertain if the five-time Ballon d'Or winner will continue playing for his country.