5 managers who successfully stopped Cristiano Ronaldo

#5 Heimir Hallgrimsson

Heimir Hallgrimsson's Iceland side frustrated Ronaldo during Euro 2016

While Portugal would eventually go on to win the European Championship in 2016 – with Ronaldo scoring in the semi-finals and practically coaching the team to victory in the final match, their opening game of the tournament was an entirely forgettable one for the Real Madrid superstar. Portugal stuttered to a 1-1 draw with Iceland – a result which left CR7 absolutely furious.

Iceland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson borrowed a page from the book of Otto Rehhegal, whose Greece side had successfully kept Ronaldo quiet twice in Euro 2004, and simply had his players defend as deeply as possible, marking Ronaldo as tightly as they could, and despite only having 27% possession, they came away looking like the moral victors after securing a 1-1 draw.

Granted, Hallgrimsson’s men didn’t keep Ronaldo entirely quiet – he did manage to carve out some chances, but with his mental game seemingly put off by Iceland’s defensive tactics, he conspired to miss them all pretty badly, never really coming close to scoring.

To make matters worse, Ronaldo went on an astonishing post-match rant, accusing Iceland of having a “small mentality” and railing against them for celebrating the draw like they’d won the whole tournament. It showed just how much Iceland and Hallgrimsson had gotten under his skin.

Other bosses like Ancelotti and Guardiola may have had more success in stopping Ronaldo – who admittedly was somewhat off-form for the game – but perhaps none angered CR7 quite like Hallgrimsson and his ultra-defensive tactics.