Cristiano Ronaldo has earned some privileges. One of them should be this: do not send him to warm up unless you are absolutely certain you will be putting him on. At his level, once he is warming up, he plays. It is that simple. For that, I blame Jorge Jesus.
That said, Cristiano should have left the Portugal team a while ago. He certainly had no business staying past the 2026 World Cup.
And the strangest part is that even now, nobody can tell you whether he has played his last game for Portugal.
That is what it costs to stay too long. The indignity of standing on the touchline at his age, warming up for a game the coach later decided he wasn’t needed in.
He overstayed his welcome a long time ago but when you look at the people he is surrounded by, he will never get to know this truth. I guess this was one of the only ways for him to find out. I doubt he has. I doubt he will.
It’s okay to hit the 1000 goals playing for Al-Nassr. His fans won’t mind how it comes, they just want something they can make a meal of.
It’s time to let Portugal go.