Euro 2024 day five: Cristiano Ronaldo to begin his sixth European Championship

The Cristiano Ronaldo show rolls into town on day five as the Portugal superstar prepares to kick off in his record-extending sixth European Championship against the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile minnows Georgia see their dreams of a final place become reality as they face their eagerly-awaited opener against Turkey.

Kylian Mbappe will be hoping to make a swift recovery from a nose injury that marred France’s opening win over Austria, while Romelu Lukaku will continue his search for his goalscoring boots.

Here, the PA news agency tees up day five of Euro 2024.

Record breaker Ron

Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez hailed the enduring impact of star man Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of his side’s Euro 2024 bow against the Czech Republic.

Ronaldo, who currently plays for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, will play at a record-extending sixth Euros as he looks to add to his current season tally of 51 goals in 52 appearances for club and country.

“Cristiano is the only player who has played in five Euros and he will now play in six,” said Martinez.

“Nobody gets in the national team by having a name. Cristiano is in the national team on merit and the numbers are there to back that up.”

Don’t dream it’s over

Georgia boss Willy Sagnol has urged his players to wake up to the reality of the situation as they prepare to play at their first ever major international tournament against Turkey in Dortmund.

Sagnol admitted his players thought they were dreaming following their penalty shoot-out win over Greece to qualify, but are now ready to get down to business for their curtain-raiser.

Sagnol said: “For some players, after the March play-offs it has been a bit difficult to get back into their daily routine because they have lots of emotions and they had a feeling they were living a dream but the dream has to stop at some point and they have to focus again.”

Nose pain, no gain

Mbappe left the field with a nose injury after playing his part in France’s opening win over Austria in Dusseldorf.

Mbappe proved a constant threat to an otherwise stubborn Austrian rearguard and it his cross in the first half that saw defender Max Wober nod the only goal of the game into his own net.

Austria had their chances but Mbappe proved a class apart as he brought a stinging early save out of Patrick Penz then curled a golden chance just wide in the 56th minute.

Antoine Griezmann was inches from adding a second and Marcus Thuram shot straight at Penz, before Mbappe’s late exit provided some cause for concern.

Out of Luk

Lukaku endured a day to forget as Belgium suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Slovakia in Group E in Frankfurt.

The Roma star missed a series of good chances then had two second-half efforts ruled out for offside as a seventh-minute strike from Ivan Schranz proved enough to give Slovakia a famous victory.

Lukaku steered a pair of first-half efforts wide of target then had a tap-in ruled out 11 minutes into the second half after being judged offside.

The former Chelsea man thought he had finally equalised four minutes from time after smashing home from a Lois Openda cut-back – only for referee Halil Umut Meler to chalk off the effort for handball in the build-up.

Ukraine pain

Ukraine’s first appearance at a major championship since the invasion by Russia fell flat as they were beaten 3-0 by an impressive Romania side in Munich.

From the moment Nicolae Stanciu fired the Romanians into a 29th-minute lead the result looked inevitable and further strikes from Razvan Marin and Denis Dragus sealed the win.

Ukraine’s Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was arguably at fault for all three goals and his opposite number Florin Nita showed him how it was done when he denied Georgiy Sudakov to preserve his clean sheet late on.

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Who’s up next?

Turkey v Georgia – 5pm, BBC One

Portugal v Czech Republic – 8pm, BBC One

All times BST.