Cristiano Ronaldo harassed by selfie-chasing pitch intruders in major Euro 2024 security breach

Sign up for Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter, sent straight to your inbox for free

Sign up for Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter

Five fans were able to reach Cristiano Ronaldo and try to take selfies with him after entering the pitch as a major security breach marred the end of Portugal’s victory over Turkey in the 2024 European Championship.

A young fan was the first to evade the stewards in the 69th minute of the Group F match at the Westfalenstadion, with Ronaldo happily posing for a selfie before the youngster was led away by security.

But it led to several more attempts during the match and one at full-time, with Ronaldo growing increasingly frustrated by the security lapses during Euro 2024.

The second supporter, an elderly fan who stormed the pitch 15 minutes after the first incident, appeared to grab Ronaldo by the neck as he failed to take a selfie with the Portuguese star.

Ronaldo turned his back on the fan, who held the 39-year-old after security finally reached him and pulled him away from the striker before being carted off the pitch.

There were two further incidents before the whistle and one shortly afterwards, where Ronaldo led one of the supporters away as stadium security failed to stop fans from entering the pitch.

Portugal recorded a 3-0 win against Turkey to book their place in the last 16 of Euro 2024 as Group F winners thanks to a Bernardo Silva strike, a Samet Akaydin own goal and a Bruno Fernandes tap-in.

Silva scored his first goal in a major international tournament in the 21st minute when Nuno Mendes’ cross deflected off a Turkish defender and saw the Manchester City striker ghost alone in the area, who then smashed it past the goalkeeper to give the Portuguese the lead to put.

Seven minutes later, Turkish defender Akaydin made a comical mistake when trying to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper, who was out of position. There was nothing he could do to stop the ball rolling into the net, despite their desperate attempts to keep it out.

Portugal continued to dominate and extended their lead after substitute Ruben Neves set Ronaldo free with a long ball to beat the offside line and, after crossing the goalkeeper, square the ball for Fernandes, who only sent it into an empty net had to tap.

The win moves Portugal into a guaranteed top spot in Group F with six points, three ahead of second-place Turkey and five ahead of Georgia and the Czech Republic with one match remaining.

Including reporting from Reuters