Lionel Messi will make his final appearance for Argentina in Buenos Aires next week. The match, a friendly against Benin, has been dubbed ‘The Last Tango’. It has been scripted for him. It is an opportunity for a nation to pay homage to one of the greatest players who has ever lived.
Whether Cristiano Ronaldo is ever afforded the same kind of farewell from the international game he has graced for 23 years remains to be seen. If Messi seems at peace with his decision and aware of the limitations age has foisted upon him, Ronaldo is raging and raging against the dying of the light.
It was hard not to feel sad at the sight of Ronaldo, who is 41 and had started the country’s previous game against Wales, walking out of the Portugal camp after manager Jorge Jesus chose not to bring him off the bench in the team’s Nations League victory over Norway in Oslo on Sunday. It was the first time in 18 years that Ronaldo had been an unused substitute for his country.
Ronaldo subsequently missed training on Tuesday before having dinner with Jesus to try to resolve their differences. He has played 234 times for Portugal, scoring 146 goals. Flouncing out of the squad in this way, at this stage of his international career, suggests that this may be the end.
The truth is that it is the strength of leadership Portugal has been crying out for. Many believe that Ronaldo has not deserved a place in the starting eleven of the national team for at least five years. He has become an example of a faded star living on his image and the memory of past glories.
It feels as if he is playing now only for himself. He has scored 979 career goals and he wants to be the first officially to reach 1000. Pele, Romario and others claimed to have reached the same landmark but their totals relied heavily on unofficial appearances in matches that included exhibitions.
Cristiano Ronaldo walked out of the Portugal camp after manager Jorge Jesus chose not to bring him off the bench in the team’s Nations League against Norway
Ronaldo subsequently missed training on Tuesday before having dinner with Jesus to try to resolve their differences, but subsequently appears to have ended his international career
It is unclear as to whether Ronaldo will be afforded the farewell Argentina are preparing to give Lionel Messi, who will make a final appearance for his nation in a friendly next week
Ronaldo has become the epitome of a sportsman who cannot let go and is damaging his legacy by refusing to leave the arena
It is beginning to look as if Ronaldo may have to get those goals playing for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, which has propped up his ego since he joined the club in December 2022. He had left Manchester United shortly before that, claiming he had been betrayed by the club with whom he had made his name in his first spell in English football.
The previous Portugal manager Roberto Martinez did not have the courage or the stomach for the fight. He was in thrall to Ronaldo’s power and persisted with him both at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and, again, in the USA, Mexico and Canada in the summer that has just passed.
Portugal had a lavishly talented squad at both tournaments but both times, the selection of Ronaldo proved highly controversial and divisive. He was a player playing on his reputation. At both tournaments, Portugal were undermined. In the USA, they were among the favourites to win. After an unconvincing start, they were knocked out by Spain in the Round of 16.
Ronaldo said then that he was considering retirement from the international game but he decided to play on. He was a magnificent player in his prime, second only to Messi in his generation of superstars, but he has been a shadow of that player for a long time and now it appears even his past reputation cannot save him.
He has become the epitome of a sportsman who cannot let go and is damaging his legacy by refusing to leave the arena. Watching him play now is like watching a fighter who has taken too many blows. Those who have his best interests at heart want him to call an end to it all but Ronaldo cannot do it.
He has been an exemplary professional his whole career, a man who has dedicated himself to the game he has graced, and now he cannot let go. He is addicted to the game and to the spotlight and he cannot handle it when a manager says ‘no’. No sooner did Jesus do that than Ronaldo left the camp.
This moment had been coming. Many were astonished that former PSG forward Goncalo Ramos, who now plays for AC Milan, was not the first choice forward for Portugal at this year’s World Cup but Jesus started him against Norway and Ramos rewarded that decision by scoring the winner.
Jesus had let it be known that Ramos, not Ronaldo, would also start tonight’s Nations League tie against Denmark in Copenhagen. That appeared to be too much for Ronaldo. Time catches up with everyone, however great they are. Messi admitted it had caught up with him in the World Cup final. It is to be hoped that, from somewhere, Ronaldo can find the same acceptance before he tarnishes his legacy further.
Source: Sport
