THE abiding memory of Cristiano Ronaldo at last year’s European Championship was when he was receiving a massage.
Ronaldo offered Portugal coach Roberto Martinez a cursory glance while he sat on the turf during extra-time against France.
Cristiano Ronaldo will throw everything at being able to win the World Cup next yearCredit: Alamy
Ronaldo was in tears as Portugal were dumped out of the World Cup in 2022
As long as Martinez is the coach of Portugal, Ronaldo calls the shots. And so he will almost certainly start, at the age of 41, at next year’s World Cup, 20 years on from his first.
That will mark a record sixth World Cup appearance for Ronaldo, who continues to rage against the dying of the light.
Both of Portugal’s last two major tournaments have ended at the suggested he had reached the end of the road in elite .
He started those finals clubless, having forced a divorce with Manchester United through an incendiary interview with on Talk TV.
Portugal seemed to be phasing Ronaldo out at that World Cup in Qatar. He was benched to make way for Goncalo Ramos, scorer of a hat-trick in the round-of-16 against Switzerland.
Yet Portugal parted ways with coach , Martinez came in and he has not had the backbone to dispense with Ronaldo, despite a plethora of accomplished attackers.
And Ronaldo has not shown any signs of slowing down at international level. Since he relocated to Saudi Arabia at the start of 2023, Ronaldo has plundered 25 more goals for Portugal. Ramos has mustered only six in that time.
Three of those were in the knockouts this year as Euro 2016 winners Portugal reclaimed the trophy they first won in 2019.
. Just like at the Euros in France nine years earlier, Ronaldo was already off the pitch but Portugal’s glory centered on their greatest player.
Adding a World Cup would potentially elevate Ronaldo above again. Messi led Argentina to their third World Cup in Qatar but Ronaldo is still chasing that white whale.
Cristiano and Rooney made their debut at the World Cup together but Rooney has since retiredCredit: Getty
Messi has more Ballon d’Ors but Ronaldo has more Champions Leagues. Messi has more international honours but Ronaldo conquered the big three leagues of England, Spain and Italy.
Ronaldo has 947 career goals and adding another 53 is achievable for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
The 40-year-old has averaged almost a goal a game for Al Nassr but nobody outside Saudi Arabia is fussed about Ronaldo’s record in a league that has become the Middle Eastern retirement home for 30-something footballers.
Ronaldo and made their World Cup debuts in Germany in 2006 and only ten months separate their birthdays. While Rooney has become a shock-jock on his new podcast, Ronaldo continues to shock and awe.
Even in his second stint at United, Ronaldo radiated an aura like no other.
Team-mates marvelled at how he kept the dressing room together during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final weeks as manager and he filmed a motivational video for their FA Youth Cup finalists, among them Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, before victory at in 2022.
Ronaldo had little time for Erik ten Hag and the only complimentary comments he ever aired about the Dutchman were in a sponsor-approved video where he might have been reading from an autocue.
United had little choice but to terminate Ronaldo’s contract in November 2022 but they have lacked a proven goalscorer since they parted ways with the game’s greatest goalscorer.
Ronaldo has tallied a modest eight World Cup goals, three of them in the unforgettable group stage draw with Spain in Sochi back in 2018.
He was at the peak of his powers back then. Those powers have waned over the last few years with his club career continuing outside but Ronaldo has one final shot at a World Cup.
Because he calls the shots with Portugal.
Ronaldo won the Euros with Portugal but he now has to win the World Cup to overtake Messi as the greatest of all timeCredit: Reuters 
