Silly question, but can you imitate someone who isn’t there? On Thursday, at the Parken Stadion in Copenhagen, Rasmus Højlund equalised for Denmark in the 53rd minute, 2-2 against Portugal. Then he celebrated by imitating Cristiano Ronaldo’s “Siuuu”.
Except Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t there. He left the Portugal camp on Wednesday, by private jet to Madrid, amid tensions with head coach Jorge Jesus. He didn’t play. I read it twice on the 7.32am train on Friday, and I opened a new tab in my notebook: “celebrations aimed at someone absent”.
I’m told that in football a celebration is done for someone. For the stand, for the family, for the opponent. This one was for a man who wasn’t in the stadium. Basketball doesn’t have that, I looked: you celebrate in front of the people who are present, otherwise they can’t see anything.
There were still people there for Ronaldo. Before the match, Portuguese and Danish supporters had brought banners of support. So the stadium was thinking of him on both sides, and so was Højlund, in his own way. He may be the most present player of the match.
Portugal then scored twice, through Vitinha with a header in the 67th minute and João Félix in the 87th. Final score, 4-2. As for the future, I wanted to know. According to Portuguese media quoted by HLN, his international career may be over; according to 7sur7, he promised to explain himself and has not announced his international retirement.
In 1980, we celebrated for the people who were there. That was already enough people.
Jorge Jesus, for his part, told 7sur7 that “the important thing today (was) the match”. I noted it down. The match is the only thing everyone saw in full. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: 7sur7.
