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[fan @NoodleHairCR7]

What Ronaldo has achieved with a small National team like Portugal will remain the greatest achievement ever

[🫵🏽 @idoxvi]

The only person to defeat the De La Fuente Spain superteam

[𝐌 @MooreRMFC]

New Jude haters needed, old ones turned fans.

[IM🇵🇹 @Iconic_Mourinho]

My take on this whole Portugal generation:

It's all about timing in these things. Getting the right set of players, with the right star, managed by the right coach, at the right context. But things never truly aligned for us.

Ronaldo was sandwiched between 2 great generations. When he was too young to be the best, the team was great. When he was too old to do a carry job, the team was great. When he was in his prime, for over a decade, the team was mediocre.

We always believed we could win big tournaments because of Ronaldo, but it was sort of a blind hope. A team whose second most influential player is a Nani, a João Moutinho, or a Pepe at times, can't be a favorite to win a World Cup, or even a Euros. Ronaldo was playing at such a level, touching unprecedented levels of dominance in the Champions League, that it made us believe we could always win. But, again, it was blind hope. From 2008 until 2018, the rest of our squad didn't have enough talent or spark to be the favorites to win anything.

But the blind hope has a reason to it. A solid team who has the best player in the world has a better chance of winning than every very good team whose best player is not quite the best in the world. And that's what worries me about our next generation.

Most World Cup wins have been about a story that feels right, led by a historic player (Messi, Mbappe, Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo Nazario, Zidane…). Portugal had 6 attempts at writing that story, and we fumbled all of them, for different reasons. Sometimes we went with the wrong coach (2010, 2022, 2026), sometimes the team wasn't good enough (2014, 2018).

So now what for us?

When a team wins the World Cup without having a true star, it's always out of such collective superiority that the run just makes sense (Germany, Spain, Italy the most recent examples).

Still, these were stacked squads. Will we have a stacked squad in 2030? 2034? 2038? We can never be sure. Belgium doesn't seem like having another golden generation anytime soon, neither does Italy, neither does the Netherlands, even Germany's future looks uncertain… international football is unpredictable.

For this post-Ronaldo chapter, the coach will probably be Jorge Jesus (since Mourinho took the Madrid job). No stars, no media, no hype. Just a team trying to play good football. I'm more curious than excited. But I think we will keep on having some good moments. Our era as favorites is over, and we begin another era as dark horses.

Conclusion, on Ronaldo's era with Portugal:
It didn't feel like a bust, it didn't feel like a fumble. Sometimes it felt like we underachieved, but we had some really great moments. We are still without a World Cup, but we saw our country win thinhs for the first time ever, and the culture in Portuguese football was changed forever. 2016 was more than just a trophy, it was a statement of change.

We could have won a World Cup, in the end we didn't… maybe some day. Regardless, we saw history be made.

At least we can tell our grandchildren we witnessed this era.

[Mike @Mike_RMCF]

No glorified Sunday league teams, no "hydration breaks" no suspensions removed by politicians, no presidents of organisations running competitions clearly supporting one of the teams in it.

[TC @totalcristiano]

If he wins, he will still be Cristiano.
If he doesn’t win, he will still be Cristiano.

God will decide.

[(fan) Zaid ✍🏼🇾🇪 @ZaidBalll]

You look at every single player in an England shirt when the game was kicking off & they all looked slightly nervous.

Only ONE man had the mentality and attitude of “BRING IT ON.” He looked FEARLESS.

It was HIM.❤️👏

[Mal @UtdMaI]

He scores, PROBLEM
He doesn't score, PROBLEM
He scores a brace, PROBLEM
He scores one goal, PROBLEM
He scores a hat trick, PROBLEM
He scores inside the box, PROBLEM
He scores outside the box, problem
He scores a free kick, PROBLEM
He scores penalty, PROBLEM
He misses penalty, PROBLEM
He gives penalty to another person, PROBLEM
He takes the penalty, PROBLEM
He doesn't score a free kick, PROBLEM
He scores against top ranked teams, PROBLEM
He scores against lower ranked teams, PROBLEM
He assists, PROBLEM
He doesn't assist, PROBLEM
He starts, PROBLEM
He doesn't start, PROBLEM
He celebrates his goal, PROBLEM
He doesn't celebrate his goal, PROBLEM.

Cristiano Ronaldo will keep scoring and the tears will keep flowing!! GOAT 🐐 

[™ @UtdBrazy]

RT @Asensii20: Cristiano Ronaldo at fulltime:

“I’M BACK, I’M BACK” 🔥🔥🐐🐐 https://t.co/wSKVxlibni

[England @England]

Because maybe... ❤️💭

[TC @totalcristiano]

No Cristiano Ronaldo fan will scroll without liking.

WHAT A PICTURE! ❤️

[Portugal @selecaoportugal]

𝗔𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗻𝗲. 🏆🏆 @UEFAEURO

#FazHistória | #NationsLeague

[TC @totalcristiano]

Cristiano Ronaldo’s reaction to the last penalty.

What a video.

[Mike @Mike_RMCF]

First trophy in 2002. Still winning them whilst stepping up in finals in 2025.

The sport won't see anything like him again.

[B/R Football @brfootball]

CRISTIANO RONALDO ADDS ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL TROPHY TO THE COLLECTION.

🏆🏆🏆

[Mike @Mike_RMCF]

Still stepping up in finals at 40 years old.

It's over when he says it's over. Not one second before that.

[Paris Saint-Germain @PSG_English]

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 🏆❤️💙

[Manchester United @ManUtd]

Class is permanent.

[𝐏𝐒𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐓 @PSGINT_]

The only player that led his team to a UCL, scored in the Fianl and won a Ballon D'Or