Cristiano Ronaldo broke down in tears as his final World Cup match for Portugal ended in a 1-0 last-16 defeat by Spain, with Mikel Merino’s injury-time winner sending their neighbours through. The 41-year-old five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who had already announced this would be his sixth and last World Cup, was consoled on the pitch in Dallas as his quest to win football’s biggest prize came to a crushing end.
Ronaldo, who has scored a world-record 976 goals for club and country and netted at a record six World Cups, has now gone closest to the trophy when Portugal reached the semi-finals in his first tournament in 2006. Afterwards, he said: “I will meet the family and take decisions with a calm head” when asked if he would keep playing for his country.
“Cristiano Ronaldo's final World Cup ends in tears after 1-0 defeat by Spain.”
But criticism was immediate. BBC pundit Chris Sutton, speaking from Texas for BBC Radio 5 Live, said: “He’s waddling around the field like a grandad, that’s why Portugal are out. Cristiano Ronaldo does nothing; he did nothing. What is Roberto Martinez doing? How can you pander to a player so much? Portugal are out because of Roberto Martinez.” Ronaldo touched the ball only 19 times in 90 minutes, with three shots and one chance created for a team-mate.
Manager Martinez, who announced he was leaving the job after the final whistle, defended Ronaldo, calling him a “football icon”. “We need to thank him for what he tried to do at this World Cup,” Martinez said. “His dream was to win this World Cup, he did this with an amazing example. He is a prime example of football and the human being that is behind that athlete.”
Portugal’s squad included four players who helped Paris St-Germain win the past two Champions Leagues, yet they managed only the last 16. Ronaldo’s international future remains uncertain, but his World Cup record – 146 goals for his country, also a men’s record – will stand as a monument to a career without the sport’s ultimate prize.
