Cristiano Ronaldo quits Portugal duty after 234 caps and 146 goals
The captain announced his international retirement in a five-minute video on Thursday morning, a day before Jorge Jesus names his squad for Denmark and Wales. He leaves with Euro 2016 and two Nations League titles, six weeks after walking out of the camp in Copenhagen.
Cristiano Ronaldo has played his last game for Portugal. The captain announced his retirement from international football, as JN reported, at around 10.30 on Thursday morning, in a video of roughly five minutes posted on social media.
He goes with 234 caps and 146 goals, both records in men’s international football, and three trophies: Euro 2016 and two Nations League titles. His debut came in August 2003. He is 41 and still plays for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
What he said
The video runs over Dulce Pontes’s “O Amor a Portugal”. Ronaldo says the time has come to hand back the number 7 shirt, that it was not an easy call, and that he made it with his heart as well as his head. He talks about failing and suffering, but mostly about pride, and he tells young players they can go higher than anyone has.
The rest is thanks. To his family for what they gave up, and to team-mates, coaches, doctors, physios and the people behind the scenes at the federation.
Six weeks after Copenhagen
It ends a messy autumn. On 30 September, the eve of the Denmark game, Ronaldo left the camp minutes after Jorge Jesus’s press conference and flew to Madrid. Two days earlier he had missed training with the squad in Malmö after sitting out the whole game in Oslo on the bench.
The federation’s disciplinary board gave him a 30-day ban and a €255 fine. Last week he was back on the provisional list. Jesus names his final squad on Friday for the home game against Denmark on 14 November and the trip to Cardiff on the 17th.
According to the Portuguese sports press, Ronaldo told the federation president, Pedro Proença, before the video went out. The coach reportedly heard with everyone else. Proença said the federation’s doors “will always be open”, and Prime Minister Luís Montenegro thanked him in public.
The last game
His final cap turned out to be the 1-0 win over Wales at Alvalade in September. He started that night, in Jorge Jesus’s first game in charge, and came off with 25 minutes left for Gonçalo Ramos.
Nobody knew it then. The number 7 shirt had already gone to Rafael Leão in Copenhagen.
By Vasco Almada
Image: YantsImages / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)