Ronaldo’s Portugal career ended in shame, but at his peak he was a dominant force

The very best know when to vacate the stage — “Leave them wanting more” is the old maxim — but as Cristiano Ronaldo brings the curtain down on his international career and retires from the Portugal national team, he does so having made the mistake of giving the audience too much. It is why his final years in a Portugal shirt were accompanied by mockery and ridicule, rather than the affection and respect afforded to Lionel Messi with Argentina.

In his final years, Ronaldo was regarded by many as a hindrance to Roberto Martinez’s team rather than an asset, a player whose age — he played this summer’s World Cup as a 41-year-old — and lack of work rate diminished Portugal’s hopes instead of helping them.

All of that is true and it is why Jorge Jesus, Martinez’s successor as Portugal coach, triggered Ronaldo’s decision to quit the international scene. After Jesus began managing the forward’s minutes during last month’s UEFA Nations League schedule, the dispute ended with Ronaldo leaving the squad in a private jet in protest at his treatment. He received a 30-day suspension and a nominal fine, with Jesus set to name the Portugal squad for upcoming fixtures a day after Ronaldo’s retirement announcement.

It was a messy way for a glorious international career to come to an end, because at its peak it really was glorious.

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Ronaldo inspired Portugal to glory at Euro 2016, famously barking orders from the touchline during the final against France in Paris after suffering an early injury in the game, and he smashed the international goal-scoring record with 146 goals, his first and last separated by 22 years.

With his old rival Messi having retired from international duty with Argentina last month, 20 goals behind Ronaldo in second place on the international goals list, no current player has broken the 100-goal barrier. His tally is likely to stand for the rest of time, no matter what Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku (94 goals), Poland’s Robert Lewandowski (92) and England’s Harry Kane (91) think they can do about it.

Ronaldo’s 234 international appearances are also a record — Messi is second again, with 208 — so unless Croatia’s Luka Modric (206) or Qatar’s Hassan Al-Haydos (193) continue for another three or four years, it’s another milestone that will be Ronaldo’s forever.

Both the goals and appearances figures are a testament to Ronaldo’s incredible longevity over a 23-year international career, but had he curtailed it five years ago after breaking Iran forward Ali Daei’s previous world-record goal haul of 108, perhaps his legacy would not have been dented by his refusal to accept that he could not hold back time.

The first cracks began to show at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar when Ronaldo scored just once and was dropped by coach Fernando Santos. When his replacement Goncalo Ramos scored a hat trick against Switzerland, it seemed that Ronaldo had reached the end of the road.

But he continued under new coach Martinez, playing at Euro 2024 and failing to score a single goal. Despite his fading powers, Ronaldo remained in the team at this year’s World Cup and declared “I’m back!” after scoring twice against Uzbekistan.

By this point, Ronaldo was a shadow of his former self, and his performances at his last two World Cups and final Euros — combined with his club career now being played in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr — meant that a new generation hearing stories of his greatness only saw an old man failing to live up to the hype. Yet when Ronaldo was good, between 2004 and 2018, he was sensationally good, and that is the player who, once recency bias fades, should — and will — be remembered.

He had incredible pace, an insanely quick step-over that took him past any defender, strength, power and an unbeatable spring that enabled him to score headers from seemingly impossible height and distance. He was a cold-eyed finisher, and at his peak, he was the world’s best from free kicks: Just watch his free kick against Spain during a 3-3 draw at Russia 2018 for evidence of that.

Had Ronaldo played for one of Europe’s heavyweight nations such as France, Spain or Germany, he would have won at least one World Cup and several more European Championships. Yet he definitely helped lift Portugal into that heavyweight bracket.

Before his debut in 2003, Portugal had qualified for just three World Cups and three Euros in their history, but during Ronaldo’s international career, they have never missed out on qualification, reaching six World Cups and six Euros. During most of those tournaments, he carried Portugal on his shoulders — Euro 2016 was the perfect example of that. Yes, he missed most of the final, but Portugal wouldn’t have made it that far with his contribution in the earlier rounds.

Now, Portugal are a team of all talents, with depth across the squad and individual stars such as Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Neves, Pedro Neto, Vitinha and Nuno Mendes making them one of the most formidable international sides in the world. And they no longer need Ronaldo — or not the Ronaldo of the 2020s anyway.

With a peak Ronaldo, Portugal would be a World Cup favorite, but the problem — as Jesus has identified — is that an old Ronaldo is no longer the great Ronaldo.

Jesus was right to begin life without Ronaldo, but it has taken the player too long to realize that his time has been up for a while. Yet when football remembers Cristiano Ronaldo, it should remember the very best of him rather than the one that didn’t know when to quit.