CR7 divides the Portuguese after the disagreement with coach Jorge Jesus, guilty of choosing the group and not the individual. The difference with the decline of two other champions like Messi and Modric.
Cristiano Ronaldo broke up with the Portugal national team. A spectacular and public breakup, he who on the bench in Oslo does nothing to hide the disappointment of not having been sent onto the pitch for at least half an hour, the escape to the changing rooms, the skipped training sessions, the failed mediation by the federal president Pedro Proença (rushed by plane to Copenhagen from the Azores) until the epilogue.
The rift that is tearing Portugal apart took place in the space of a handful of hours. The role of the villain was played by Jorge Jesus, the selector called to Lisbon after the half-failed World Cup and the last coach to have given Ronaldo (Al Nassr, Saudi Arabia) the joy of a trophy to raise to the sky. Whatever happened, a classic script in which the old champion takes his hat after realizing that he is no longer central, perhaps not even peripheral, in the team that has always been his.
The casus belli was the bench in Oslo against Norway, the promise made to come on halfway through the second half and then the decision to leave in Gonçalo Ramos who was playing well, had done and also guaranteed that job of first pressuring the opposing defenders that CR7 has never willingly done and which at 41 years of age he is no longer even able to do for obvious reasons of physical wear and tear.
After a business conference with the National Selector, and following a conversation with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation, I return to the decision to decide on the stage of the National Selector.
At the same time, I would tell the truth to all Portuguese people about the reasons that… pic.twitter.com/j8Qrws9KTS
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) September 30, 2026
Faced with Ronaldo’s climb up the Aventine, zero training sessions in the following two days, Jorge Jesus chose the brutal line of clarity: the group first of all. His words to the Portuguese press, the ones that pushed CR7 to call the private plane and be flown from Copenhagen to Madrid in disdain, are the manifesto of how the group is managed: “I am the coach and I have decided not to let him play. If I need him for half an hour he will play, otherwise he will remain on the bench. No player will make me change my mind on this, neither him nor anyone else in football, nor any president”.
Everything was perfect, not for Ronaldo who remained insensitive even to the federal president’s attempts at mediation and left entrusting his thoughts to social media: “Following the conference of the coach and after a conversation with the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, I have decided to leave retirement. In due time, I will tell the Portuguese people the truth about the reasons for my farewell to the national team, to which I have always dedicated myself with commitment. The time has come to wish good luck to Portugal and to all my teammates, without exceptions.”
End of story, at least for now. Ronaldo’s farewell, because it seems like this to everyone, to the Portuguese national team for which he is the record holder for appearances (234), goals scored (146) and which he helped win a European Championship and two Nations League, however, has torn Portuguese public opinion, dividing it between those who consider it a slap in the face and those who have tolerated the champion’s self-determination in national affairs for too long.
Him plus ten others has been the mantra for too long, in recent years including a World Cup in which CR7 seemed to pursue his own goals rather than those of the team. Something that can work in the plastic football of Saudi Arabia, where he accumulates goals to reach the fateful 1000 mark, not for a national team like Portugal who would have cards to play within a generation, if not golden, at least silver.
Whether he returns or not, or whatever promise Jorge Jesus made to him and not kept – CR7 said he will provide his version in due time – this is the moral of the story. Ronaldo’s farewell to Portugal is very different from the step back Leo Messi he chose to do things independently with Argentina and also from making himself available to Luka Modric in the new Croatia. Three champions, same generation, different characters.
