5 managers who successfully stopped Cristiano Ronaldo

#3 Vicente del Bosque

Vicente del Bosque never allowed Ronaldo to hurt his Spain teams in 2010 and 2012

Vicente del Bosque’s Spain side managed to shut out Ronaldo’s Portugal team in two successive international tournaments – World Cup 2010 from South Africa and then Euro 2012 from Poland and Ukraine – and on both occasions, CR7 cut an unhappy-looking figure as he was simply unable to make a mark on either game.

Interestingly enough, both occasions saw incredibly tight games with few shots hitting the target. 2010 saw Spain run out 1-0 winners while 2012’s game finished 0-0, with Spain winning after a penalty shoot-out that infamously saw Ronaldo attempt to wait for the crucial 5th kick, only to not even be given a chance following misses from teammates Joao Moutinho and Bruno Alves.

The key for del Bosque’s teams being able to stop him though probably lay in the men they deployed at the centre of their defence. The foundation of 2010’s defense was made up of two Barcelona players – Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol – who had been involved in successfully stopping Ronaldo earlier that season on two occasions – as well as his teammate Sergio Ramos.

By 2012, the Spanish defence had even more of a Real flavour, as full-back Alvaro Arbeloa had joined his teammate Ramos in looking to shut out their deadly clubmate CR7. And on both occasions, Ronaldo’s teammates and most heated rivals did the job – reducing him to a couple of free-kick shots in 2010 and very little influence at all in 2012.

Del Bosque might’ve had a big advantage over most managers with the players he deployed to stop Ronaldo, but he can still boast of being one boss who simply never allowed the Portuguese to damage his teams.