Cristiano Ronaldo's Last World Cup: A Legend Under Fire
Cristiano Ronaldo sat down, looked the room in the eye and stripped away the myth.
"I am not the player I used to be."
No deflection. No nostalgia. Just a 41-year-old facing the end of his World Cup story as Portugal prepare for Spain in the last 16 in Texas on Monday night.
This is his last World Cup. He confirmed it again. Seven months shy of 42, the captain, the symbol, the man who dragged a nation to Euro 2016 glory, is edging towards his final act on the biggest stage. The debate over how that act should look has never been louder.
A legend under fire
Ronaldo has three goals at this tournament, yet his World Cup has been a strange watch. The numbers say “top scorer.” The performances have split the country.
He has been ineffective for long spells. He has not created a single chance. He has had 15 shots – almost double any of his team-mates – the highest tally of any player at this World Cup who has yet to lay on an opportunity for others. In three of Portugal’s four matches, he has finished with fewer than 25 touches. For a man who once dominated every blade of grass, that is a jarring statistic. It is his lowest average touch count at any World Cup.
The criticism has been relentless. He knows it.
"You have been trying to kill me for the past 23 years," he told the press on Sunday, his tone half weary, half defiant. "It's a waste of time, but you try and try and try and try and try.
"As I said before, [I will stop] when I choose, not when you choose. You always ask the same question.
"This will be my last World Cup, but let's hope tomorrow isn't my last game."
He smiled as he left the room to applause, then landed one more punch.
"I am not going to be more Cristiano Ronaldo or less because I win the World Cup. I even say thanks for the attacks I feel after I turned 40... the criticism is how you grow, so thank you for doing this.
"Whatever happens tomorrow, Cristiano Ronaldo will leave with a clear conscience -- not 100% but 1,000% because in life and football I gave everything."
The Perisic scare and the Ramos question
His World Cup almost ended in Toronto.
Against Croatia in the last 32, Ivan Perisic struck in the 53rd minute and suddenly Ronaldo’s 232nd cap looked like it might be his final bow. Portugal were flat, Croatia organised, the clock unforgiving.
Then the old drama returned. Ronaldo, still the designated man in the defining moments, buried a penalty to level – his first ever goal in the World Cup knockout rounds. Even now, when the legs no longer sprint as often, the penalty spot still feels like his stage.
Moments later, Roberto Martinez made the call. He took off his national icon.
Ronaldo’s face told its own story as he walked off. Frustration, disbelief, maybe a hint of fear that this is what the new reality looks like. On the touchline, Martinez gambled on the future. Goncalo Ramos, widely viewed as Ronaldo’s heir, came on and, in a wild finish, fired Portugal into the last 16.
The decision looked ruthless. It also looked right.
Now the question is unavoidable: does Martinez start Ronaldo against Spain, or does he lean into the Ramos momentum?
Reinventing Portugal – and the cost of greatness
Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in international football with 146 goals. He has scored at six World Cups, a record of astonishing longevity and reinvention.
He began in 2006 with a penalty against Iran. He struck against North Korea in Cape Town in 2010. He scored against Ghana in Brasilia in 2014. In 2018, he tore through Spain with a hat-trick in Sochi, then headed the winner against Morocco in Moscow five days later. In Qatar in 2022, he found the net from the spot against Ghana. This time, before the Croatia penalty, he scored twice in a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan in Houston.
He has changed the way Portugal see themselves. Once a country clinging to the memory of Eusebio, they now speak of a different standard, a different ambition. Ronaldo made them believe they belonged in every conversation.
Yet that same aura now fuels the fiercest criticism.
"He doesn't play to win, he plays to be the main figure," argued Antonio Simoes, part of the Portugal side that finished third at the 1966 World Cup. "Do you understand that it's the opposite of Eusebio? Let's call things by their name. I have nothing against him. I can still see, I can still hear and I can still think. But I can't run away from the reality of the facts."
The facts are stark. His running numbers have dipped. He is averaging only 4.4 runs in behind per match, far lower than at the past two World Cups, even though he is still being used as a lone striker. Against Croatia, his only touch in the opposition box was that penalty.
And yet Martinez keeps picking him.
"His leadership and that work in the final third is still one of the best in the world," the coach said when asked why Ronaldo remains a starter.
Since Martinez took charge in 2023, Ronaldo has played in 36 of Portugal’s 44 games. When he has missed out, it has usually been because of injury or suspension, not tactical choice.
There is a twist, though. Portugal’s two biggest wins of this cycle came without him: a 9-0 demolition of Luxembourg in Faro in September 2023, and a 9-1 thrashing of Armenia in Porto last November. Each time, the same debate flared: do they actually play better without their captain?
The country that still believes
Walk the streets around any Portugal game and you get a different answer.
Ronaldo shirts are everywhere. In Toronto, it was almost a surprise to see a Portugal top without his name on the back. Fans clogged one of the city’s main highways before the Croatia match, desperate for a glimpse of him. This wasn’t a football crowd. This was a pilgrimage.
My taxi driver from the airport didn’t care much for the sport, but he knew one thing.
"The local TV and radio have been going nuts about him for days," he said. "He must be special."
One local fan spent an entire month’s wages on a ticket just to watch him in person at a World Cup. Not Portugal. Not the occasion. Him.
The supporters outside the stadium spoke less like analysts and more like family.
"On the world stage we didn't really have anyone after Eusebio," said Joao. "Ronaldo came in and made us dream."
Lucilia went further.
"People talk about Portugal because of him. He doesn't forget where he's from, he remembers the people. I love him. Ronaldo means more to Portugal than any politician."
Another fan, Diana, already dreads the day he walks away from international football.
"Of course I'm going to be sad," she said. "The whole world will be sad because it doesn't matter who you support. Ronaldo has had a wonderful career and been an exemplary player.
"I would say to him: 'Well done, Cristiano. Enjoy your retirement. You deserve it after entertaining the world.'
So when some argue that he should step aside, others push back with a different logic.
"I feel he should dictate whether he wants to stay on or not," said Angelo before the Croatia game. "What he has done for Portugal as a nation, he should dictate that 100%."
Martinez’s call
This is the tightrope Martinez must walk in Texas.
On one side, the cold data: fewer touches, fewer runs, a team that has produced its most explosive scorelines without him. On the other, the intangible weight of a global icon who still bends games from 12 yards, still commands fear, still carries the faith of a nation.
Ramos is knocking loudly after his late winner. Ronaldo is still standing, still scoring, still insisting he will decide when the curtain falls.
World Cups have a habit of writing ruthless endings for greats. Martinez can stick with history, or he can lean into the future.
Does he send out Portugal’s greatest player for what might be his final World Cup start against Spain, or does he dare to leave him watching from the bench as a new era tries to begin in real time?
