Cristiano Ronaldo is done with the World Cup. For real this time.
Portugal’s 1-0 loss to Spain in the Round of 16 on Monday ended their tournament run and officially closed the book on Ronaldo’s six-tournament career on soccer’s biggest stage. And if you were expecting bitterness or second-guessing, you’d be wrong.
Ronaldo walked through the mixed zone at AT&T Stadium with the kind of calm that usually only comes from someone who knows exactly what they’ve done and doesn’t need anyone else to validate it.
“Tomorrow I will get up as I got up today: with a clear conscience,” Ronaldo said in Portuguese, according to Liberta Depre. “I gave my best. I won three titles for Portugal. And Portugal hadn’t won any title before Cristiano.”
The Euro 2016 title still means everything
He was talking mostly about the 2016 European Championship, where Portugal beat France 1-0 in the final. That was Portugal’s first major international trophy. Ronaldo treats it like a World Cup win, and he said as much.
“The biggest title I won with the national team was 2016, which for me has the same importance as the World Cup, honestly.”
That might sound like a stretch to some people. But look at it this way: Portugal had never won anything before Ronaldo showed up. He gave them three trophies. He’s earned the right to rank them however he wants.
A six-tournament career nobody else can match
Ronaldo made his World Cup debut in 2006 in Germany. He scored one goal that year, leading Portugal to the semifinals — the best finish of his career. In 2010, they got bounced in the Round of 16. In 2014, they didn’t even make it out of the group stage.
His best personal showing came in 2018. Ronaldo scored four goals in Russia, including a hat trick in a wild 3-3 draw with Spain. But Portugal still went out in the Round of 16 again.
Then came 2022 in Qatar, where they reached the quarterfinals before losing. And now this year’s exit in the Round of 16 to Spain.
All told, Ronaldo finishes his World Cup career with 11 goals in 26 games. He’s also the only player ever to score in six different World Cups. That’s not a footnote. That’s a record that might stand for a long time.
Ronaldo scored three goals in this tournament before Portugal ran into Spain. But the ending isn’t really the point here. The point is he showed up to every single one, played through the disappointment in 2014, played through the near-misses in 2006 and 2018, and never once hid from the moment.
He’s 41 now. This was his last World Cup. He knows it. And he walked out of that stadium with his head up.
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