[Euro 2016] Ronaldo slams Iceland for 'parking the bus'

"They put the bus in the net."

Cristiano Ronaldo slammed Iceland for "parking the bus" in front of their goal as it held Portugal to a 1-1 draw. At the Euro 2016 Group F match with Iceland in St. Etienne, France on Wednesday, Portugal had a 66 percent ball possession rate and made 27 shots but still played a draw.

Iceland, which has showed strong defense power in the preliminaries allowing just 0.6 goal per game, succeeded to qualify for the finals for the first time. On Wednesday, Iceland displayed concentrated defense before counterattacking. Allowing a head goal at 31 minutes in the first half, Iceland defended Portugal's repeated attacks, and at 5 minutes in the second half midfielder Birkir Bjarnason volleyed the equaliser.

Ronaldo equaled Luis Figo’s record number of caps with 127 appearances, but still lost. "Iceland didn’t try nothing, they just defend, defend, defend," fumed Ronaldo.

Euro 2016 has seen teams displaying defense power gaining instead of those with attacking power. Belgium was considered to be the strongest winner candidate as it had Eden Hazard and other powerful strikers, but lost to Italy who played tight defense 0 to 2. Belgium coach Marc Wilmots criticized Italy for "not playing real football," adding, "They were pretty much there on the sofa... they were pretty relaxed."

정윤철기자 trigger@donga.com