Ronaldo’s tumultuous retirement

Just about a month ago, this column was about Cristiano Ronaldo – one of the greatest football talents the eyes have seen. It was entitled ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s strident swansong’. It was essentially about the great footballer’s strident swansong, which looked like the case indeed as he angrily decamped from the Portugal national team’s camp out of anger. He made an ordinarily beautiful career look like it was going to end up like some kind of joke.

Some saw his continued insistence on being part of the national team as the cause of what the man fondly known as CR7 saw as disrespect by teammates, Jorge Jesus, the national team coach and even the Portuguese Football Federation. The aggregation of all these acts of disrespect to him, brought the anger out of the greatest Portuguese football player.

The column posited that Cristiano Ronaldo was not singing the right swansong. It also held that the recessional hymn being sung for him as he reached the denouement of his football career was not good enough for a man that has done so much for Portuguese football.

That October Cristiano Ronaldo opinion also hinted that it was not about his national team career alone. He had such swansongs in Real Madrid, Juventus and at Manchester United during his second coming to the English giants. In many cases, Ronaldo ceases to see the difference between a glance and a speech given with the eyes. He didn’t appear to know when to quit and his footballing children were now pointing at the door to him. It was not a good sight, considering his immense contributions to the beautiful game.

Many football fans thought it would have been best for CR7 to hang his boots after the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA of Donald Trump. But he opted to continue. When the international break that followed the 2026 FIFA World Cup came, he fell out with his friend and the Portuguese national team coach, Jorge Jesus. Then the spiral of events began. First, he lost it, said some things about his relationship and agreements with Jesus. Then, he flew back to Saudi Arabia to continue his club career. It was like a case of Cristiano Ronaldo singing John Lennon’s Mother in which he sang that “Mother you had me, but I never had you, I wanted you but you didn’t want me, so I got to tell you goodbye, goodbye.”

However, Ronaldo is loved by more people than he himself can count. And it appears like he is loved more outside of his country’s national team, because it looks like that is where the disrespect has its source. The disrespect cannot be worse than footballing neonates – when compared to Cristiano Ronaldo’s status – are making comments that can be translated to mean ‘we are all on national duty for Portugal for the same purpose; there is no seniority in the whelping of a bitch’. In the philosophy of the Yoruba, puppies of a single whelp might be mates, but scientifically, there must be some differences.

Now that Ronaldo appears to have heeded the call to retire from international footballing duty, he deserves commendation. However, his popularity is such that tens of millions of his followers and fanatical supporters are embroiled in a hot debate over the propriety or otherwise of his sudden and unceremonious retirement from the Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol.

READ ALSO: Cristiano Ronaldo: The Rise of a Football Legend

Already, there had been street protests in his hometown, Funchal in Madeira. His passionate supporters took to the streets to reject his international retirement. This is a pointer to many things, one of which is that the Portuguese national team must be in some form of disarray right now. The Madeira protesters want a more befitting avenue through which the national football icon should quit the national team. They want a proper football match in which the legendary Ronaldo would be fittingly celebrated as a true legend, and be sent off the national team as such.

There must be a number of players in the Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol who would want the wishes of the protesters in Madeira to be respected. These players’ sentiments and emotions should be considered as important in the coming international break, and be taken seriously for a harmonious national team camp. Surely, tens of millions of fans of football, especially those of CR7 would also want a befitting exit for him.

The emotions towards Jorge Jesus are also on the table in this issue. Whatever the Portuguese national team gaffer holds as thoughts and expresses as opinions must come under intense scrutiny in this period. This is because Jesus cannot deny being part of the dirt at the base of the sudden retirement of Ronaldo and as part of the cause of the development.

It must also be pointed out that this retirement has a potential to cause damage to team unity in the national team. It could be guessed that this is in the offing as time would reveal the many sides to the sudden, unceremonious retirement of the man who symbolises Portuguese soccer.

The country’s football federation should also be gearing up for a massive impact on the socio-political life of the ordinarily quiet Portugal. The eye-popping statistics that adorn the glittering career of Cristiano Ronaldo will leave the Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (FPF) with a valley of vacuum. It will never be the same for the FPF in a long time in terms of popularity, followership, revenue and admiration.

The Madeira protests might not return CR7 to the national team of Portugal. But even if he returns, would a man like Jorge Jesus still be the national team manager if this happens? Should he return to the team, would it be for just one match to announce a proper retirement? Would the match be a novelty or would it be an official match for the sole purpose of Ronaldo’s retirement?

Why would Portugal now be in turmoil because of the decision of one man? That is massive influence. He has hundreds of millions of fans and followers, and there are millions of his compatriots who want more from their idol. It is also a fact that Ronaldo is obviously bigger than Jorge Jesus and the FPF, because they are riding on his back to the recent successes of their team.

But would Ronaldo’s story be told without the controversies? He has what could pass as a lot of human flaws. Everyone has theirs, but he always leaves bitter tastes in millions of mouths because of his humongous followership. This is accentuated by the fact that some of the clubs he played for did not enjoy a post-career relationship that is worth writing home about. Apart from Lisbon where he left for Manchester United, there has not been a closure to issues of his leaving these clubs. Madrid, Juventus, and the second coming to United were all tumultuous.

Well done Cristiano Ronaldo. Retire in peace from international football. Face your career and captainship in Al-Nassr and let us hope that at 41, your maturity will shine through when it is time to finally hang your boots. Congratulations on your massively illustrious career.