Yusuf Akintayo

Chelsea Fan | Muslim | #FPL

[AlNassr FC @AlNassrFC_EN]

Some love is spoken. Some is simply shown 🇸🇦💚

[Ike @ValerieUTD]

It was never supposed to end like that.

Paris. July 10th, 2016. Stade de France. The Euro final. Portugal vs France. The biggest night of Cristiano Ronaldo's international life.

He was 31. He had already lost one final on home soil at 19, crying as a boy in 2004. For 12 years he carried that scar. This was redemption. This was his last real chance to give his country something no Portuguese team had ever given before.

He wanted that final so badly it hurt.

Rewind 18 days. Lyon. Hungary 3-3 Portugal. Portugal were going out in the group stage. Humiliated. Ronaldo had missed a penalty against Austria. The press was killing him.

And then he did what only he does. Two goals. An assist. A backheel flick that defied physics. He dragged a broken team, by himself, into the knockout rounds. Without that masterclass against Hungary, there is no final. There is no trophy. Portugal were dead, and he brought them back to life.

Rewind again. July 6th. Lyon again. Semi-final vs Wales. Bale vs Ronaldo. The two most expensive players in the world. 50th minute. The cross comes in. Ronaldo hangs in the air — that impossible hang time, like gravity forgot him — and bullets a header into the net. 1-0. Then 3 minutes later, his shot is turned in by Nani. 2-0. Portugal are in a final after 12 years. He took them there. He scored the goal that took them to Paris.

So of course he was going to play the final. Of course. Even if his body was broken.

Minute 8. Payet. That tackle. Knee on knee. Not malicious, but heavy. Ronaldo goes down. You see his face. This isn't play-acting. This is real pain.

He gets up. He tries to run. He can't.

Minute 16. He goes down again. The Portuguese physios run on. They tape his knee. You can see him saying "I'm going to stay, I'm going to stay."

He gets injected? They spray, they strap. He tries again. Limping. Trying to sprint on one leg.

Minute 20. He tries to continue. He signals to the bench. He can't. The tears start to come. He knows. He knows his final is over after 25 minutes. After everything — after Hungary, after Wales, after 12 years of waiting.

Minute 25. The stretcher comes. He puts his hands over his face. He doesn't want people to see him cry. But we all saw. A moth lands on his eye, like even nature wanted to comfort him.

He is carried off. The little boy who cried in 2004 is now a man crying in 2016. He thought it was gone. He thought his dream died with his knee.

But what happened next is why he is Cristiano Ronaldo.

He didn't go to the dressing room. He didn't hide. He stood on the touchline, with his knee strapped, barking orders like a manager. He became the coach, the captain, the fan. Every tackle, he shouted. Every Portuguese attack, he pushed.

And when Eder scored in the 109th minute, he fell to the ground and screamed like a child.

He left the pitch as a player. He won the final as a leader.

He couldn't walk, so he willed his team to win for him.

[𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝙰𝙻𝙻🥷🏾 @alithasimp]

Nggas be going through a lot and making sure their music app is on premium 😭

[veriTY™️ @VERITY_HQ]

😂😂😂😂

[YOM🗣️ @ThaBoyYom]

I fit sub myself comot Jersey for you make you enter pitch

[Sherif #14🏆 @Sheriftunmise]

Bruno is still on preseason 😂 His real season starts in March, when United have nothing left to play for. 😭

[نادي النصر السعودي @AlNassrFC]

والله ان النصر لعشّاقه سعادة 💛

[Chelsea FC @ChelseaFC]

Enjoy your weekend, Blues. 💙

[Chelsea FC @ChelseaFC]

Absolute perfection. 🤌

[Premier League @premierleague]

Goal contributions galore for @ChelseaFC's front three this season ⚽️🅰️

[Chelsea FC @ChelseaFC]

Cole Palmer is streaming LIVE... 🚨

[Yusuf Akintayo @YusuffAkintayo3]

@centregoals You think? 😂

[Daniel Podence @daniel_podence]

As we are now living in a moment where everyone can talk about everything without knowing anything…

I think I can also make a suggestion. (The best thing I’ve heard these days was Felipe Gomes comparing him to Kobe)

For Cristiano’s farewell in a Portugal shirt:

4 friendly matches in his final year:

🇪🇸 vs Spain at the Bernabéu
🇧🇷 vs Brazil at the Maracanã
🇮🇹 vs Italy in Turin
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 vs England at Old Trafford

It would be one of the best ways to honor the best player of all time, in the stadiums where he gave us some of our greatest memories, and against countries that deserve to be part of his farewell.

Cristiano deserves it. Football deserves it. And we, as fans, deserve it.

[Rado 🎈 @thee_ovie]

Anytime you see a Portuguese account disrespect Ronaldo, check closely, there's a good chance it's a Benfica fan.

The Benfica–Sporting rivalry is the Lisbon Derby, one of the oldest and most intense rivalries in Portuguese football, dating back to 1907.

So never let the opinions of those set of Portuguese fans bother you when it comes to Ronaldo.

[Chelsea FC Women @ChelseaFCW]

Ellie Carpenter is the @thepfa Women's Footballer of the Year for 2026! 🌟

Congratulations, Ellie! 👏

[wav.surf @sultmenk]

You be very funny guy 😂😂😂😂
Dey act like say na Twitter guys Dey determine what goes 😭😭😭😭
If all Ronaldo fans die today and e remain only Ronaldo, Ronaldo himself no go allow them rewrite him history. You think “all the goals are on tape” wey e talk na just bare yarns lmao

[PO’s MainChic😎 @D_goodybag]

Keke driver tell passenger to come down because passenger say Tinubu dey try😂😂😂

[We$t @flygodT]

Once them give me AUX for neutral settings I go just play Asake, he no dey ever fail me

[TraphouseJodeci @Ye_Ali]

I like to tell women how fine they are then go back to minding my business immediately

[Dikadi. @DikaOfoma]

pepper lovers are such gaslighters.

“but there’s no pepper in this food nau.”

meanwhile your nose is running and you can’t stop sneezing.