BENGALURU: The haters were right.
Cristiano Ronaldo's demise wasn't exaggerated at all. His fall was sadly foretold. How much he tried to convince the world that a brace against Uzbekistan would be enough to stage a miraculous reversal of this late-stage Ronaldo. "I'm back," he shouted into the TV cameras after that group-stage match.
It offered a neat contrast to the scenes following Portugal's limp exit at the hands of Spain in the pre-quarters on Monday afternoon. Surrounded by TV cameras, he was all alone as he stared into the middle distance. A few tears escaped him as Portugal's campaign ended in the most predictable of circumstances. They sacrificed team dynamics and footballing logic at the altar of a legend who wanted a final shot at immortality.
Just three of the most damning statistics doing the rounds on the morning after the night before: Ronaldo had 19 touches of the ball against the Iberian neighbours across 90 largely ineffective minutes. It was suggestive of how an entire event unfolded around the Portuguese superstar. For the vast majority of the last two decades, Ronaldo has been responsible for producing some of the greatest moments in the game, for illuminating otherwise nondescript matches. However, on Monday, as has been the case for the last few years, he allowed the game to pass him by as if he were a spectator in the starting XI.
On the bench, Goncalo Ramos waited. Ramos, who scored the winner against Croatia in the Round of 32 a few days ago and who scored a hat-trick against Switzerland after being picked ahead of Ronaldo in the pre-quarterfinals of the last World Cup in Qatar, saw the numbers of five people go up on the board next to the dug-out. Portugal's No. 7 was not one of them. So he waited in the hope that he would get his chance in extra-time. Spain didn't let that happen as Mikel Merino, a super-sub, finished the match with a finish after arriving from deep. Ramos, on his way to AC Milan from PSG, has averaged one goal every 46 minutes at the World Cup (187 minutes for four strikes). In those same two events, Ronaldo has had 732 minutes for four goals.
And the final number from a truly sobering tournament? The forward attempted 17 shots in his five matches without creating a single chance for a colleague. It furthers the perception that Ronaldo the individual wants the team to service him without Ronaldo the colleague working for his teammates. And football, especially at the elite level, doesn't work like that. He did nothing to dispel this perception of him after the Spain game, including when he spoke about himself in the third person.
"I won three titles with Portugal," the captain said while counting the two Nations Leagues also as 'titles'. "Before Cristiano, Portugal had never won a big trophy. The best trophy I won with the national team was 2016, which for me has the same dimension as the World Cup. So I repeat: I leave here with a clear conscience. Tomorrow will be another day and life goes on."
“I am sad to leave like this but I have given everything, always given my best,” the 41-year-old added. "I go with a clear conscience. This is football, it is the life of a footballer. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. You have to carry on. It was my last World Cup, yes, but as far as the rest of it is concerned: there will be time to think, to be with my family, [I will] not make decisions in the heat of the moment."
When the dust settles and the disappointment washes over, Ronaldo will realise that his legacy will always be safe. His legend will doubtless live on thanks to his exploits with Real Madrid, Man United and his goal-scoring exploits for Portugal. Winning the World Cup would have doubtless been great, but it doesn't ruin a great career.
In the end, though, the passage of time comes for everyone. It doesn't matter how fit you are; it doesn't matter how much you have invested in the latest red-light therapy; it doesn't matter if you are off sugar and alcohol in the search for that extra one per cent; it doesn't matter if you have hacked your nutrition to the 99th percentile of the optimum limit; it doesn't matter if your sleep cycles are perfect. None of these things matters the day the sport leaves you. The ego, drive and the willingness to succeed at the highest level has remained constant but after a point of time, the only hardcore currency of any sportsperson is output.
And he lost it a few years ago.
