A nation divided as Ronaldo left with big decision on Portugal future

ByEmlyn Begley

BBC Sport journalist

As Lionel Messi prepares to get a hero's farewell for his successful international career, Cristiano Ronaldo's could have ended with him running down the tunnel at the final whistle of a game he did not play.

After the World Cup, Argentina's Messi, 39, decided to retire from international football, while Ronaldo, 41, opted to play on for Portugal.

Yet there is the possibility that Messi's Argentina career will end up lasting a few days longer - with a home friendly with Benin on Tuesday marked as his final game.

Ronaldo, furious at being made to warm up and not be brought on against Norway in the Nations League, walked out on the Portugal squad after finding out he would not start against Denmark either.

The Al-Nassr forward has scored 146 goals and won 234 caps for Portugal - both world records.

After such a high-profile falling-out with new boss Jorge Jesus, also a larger than life character who does not back down, Ronaldo is facing a big decision.

Jesus has insisted he would be welcome back if he wants to return and talks between Ronaldo, his representatives and the Portuguese FA are ongoing as they look for a solution.

While Ronaldo could not carry on playing forever, this is not how he would have expected his international career to end.

His fans are remaining loyal to him, with social media full of posts supporting Ronaldo and criticising Jesus, while on the other side some fans and a lot of Portugal's media have been critical of what they see as selfish behaviour.

Ahead of Portugal's next match against Denmark in November lies a big decision for one of the world's greatest ever players.

It has all happened very quickly.

After the World Cup, Portugal replaced Roberto Martinez with Jesus, who had been Ronaldo's boss with Al-Nassr last season.

Less than two weeks ago, Ronaldo said: "I had a conversation with our president, with our coach. I still believe that I'm able to help the national team to reach what they want."

Things were still looking OK when he started in the 1-0 win over Wales.

Jesus told Ronaldo he would be on the bench for the next game against Norway. After being told to warm up for a period of the game, he remained an unused substitute in a Portugal game for the first time in 18 years.

Guillem Balague, who wrote a book about Ronaldo in 2015, said: "He gets asked to warm up for the whole of the second half, practically.

"There are tacit rules in football: you don't do that to Pele, to Diego Maradona, to Lionel Messi, to Cristiano, right? That's what he's seen, that you don't do that to those kind of players."

And as the final whistle went he went down the tunnel instead of going to the fans with his team-mates.

Jesus said there was no falling out - but confirmed Ronaldo would not start the next game with Denmark either.

At that point Ronaldo left the training camp - and wrote on social media: "In due course, I will tell the truth to all the Portuguese people about my reasons for leaving the national team, to which I have always been dedicated."

Portugal's FA president Pedro Proenca flew to Copenhagen, landing at 02:30 in the morning, to try to smooth things over with Ronaldo but failed.

He has since said: "He is in the national team on sporting merit, and that must be unquestionable. We have to pay tribute to Ronaldo."

After beating Norway on Sunday in their final Nations League match - again without Ronaldo - Jesus said: "If he wants to, he'll return to the national team. We can talk before the next call-up, but Cris is the one who's going to decide.

"He's the one who should decide how he wants to end his time with the national team."

On several billboards in Lisbon posters went up praising Ronaldo and criticising Jesus.

They read, in Portuguese: "Thank you Cristiano Ronaldo for everything you did for Portugal. You will always be our captain.

"Jorge Jesus was not up to the task. Lack of sensitivity. Treating a captain wrongly. Inflated ego."

One was placed next to the Estadio da Luz, home of Benfica - who Jesus managed to three league titles.

At the Denmark game, some fans wore T-shirts spelling out 'Love you Jesus' while others were head-to-toe in Ronaldo merch.

Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund, incidentally, celebrated his goal with his idol Ronaldo's trademark 'siuuu' - something he has done previously when netting against Portugal.

Portugal's newspapers had differing perspectives.

Record - who the forward owns shares in - said "Ronaldo leaves after clash with Jesus" and Jornal de Noticias said it was "the end of a historic era".

"A sad goodbye," said Bola, while Jogo went for "CR7 turns his back on the national team".

Meanwhile, videos were posted online of angry fans ripping up their Portugal jerseys.

Jesus and Proenca were booed leaving a building in Copenhagen.

But many foreign fans purely supported Portugal because of Ronaldo - so they do not necessarily represent the views of actual Portuguese supporters.

Portugal fan Maria Ribeiro, from Lisbon, said: "It is so hard for all us fans. We all love him but it is getting too much now. It is hard to imagine Portugal without Ronaldo but maybe this is the time. There is too much arguing between ourselves."

Ronaldo's search for a record 1,000 career goals remains on but will he have to finish that at club level in Saudi Arabia?

He has scored 979 times for Portugal, Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Al-Nassr.

While his old rival Messi scored eight goals, and assisted four more, to take Argentina to the summer World Cup final - Portugal fell at the last-16 stage.

Ronaldo scored three goals in the tournament but failed to have an impact in their loss to Spain, leading BBC pundit Chris Sutton to say he was "waddling around the pitch like a grandad".

Ronaldo's former United team-mate Wayne Rooney added: "He is a genius, a superstar. What he has given to football and millions of people is something very rare.

"He will be disappointed because he believed he could win this tournament. But time gets us all. It's a sad day for football."

In the last nine years of Ronaldo's international career, Portugal's win percentage without him is slightly better - 64% to 63% - and they have scored 2.7 goals a game without him compared to 2.1 with him.

The two biggest wins in their history - 9-0 over Luxembourg and 9-1 against Armenia - came in the last two qualifying matches that he missed, both through suspension.

Journalist Marcus Alves, who covers Portugal, said: "How much gratitude is enough? That's a question that Portuguese fans have been asking for a few years now.

"The whole soap opera that seems to follow the mere presence of the 41-year-old striker got to a point where patience was running out.

"Of Portugal's last five coaches, Ronaldo had issues with four of them – Carlos Queiroz, Paulo Bento, Fernando Santos and now Jesus. That's too much distraction when Portugal have arguably their best generation ever."