Please respect Cristiano Ronaldo’s last dance in a World Cup | OPINION

Let’s start by recognizing that Portugal, in the 2022 World Cup, plays better without Cristiano Ronaldo. That with CR7 on the bench he has found many more access doors to the goal. Perhaps Fernando Santos was upset by the gestures of the attacker (without a team for now) in the match with South Korea, however, after seeing Goncalo Ramos’s hat-trick against Switzerland (6-1) it is evident that the decision to leave in The bank to Cristiano was more football than disciplinary.

Like the German Ralf Rangnick or the Dutch Erik ten Hag, the experienced Santos understood that CR7 is no longer an undisputed starter. The difference has been in the forms. From the coldness, almost indifference of the first two, to the paternal pat on the shoulder of the Lusitanian coach (an electronic engineer by profession). Cristiano, after the defeat of the Swiss team, decided to go alone to the changing rooms. But before he shook hands with the technician and his friend. The one he openly supported in a video that went viral after winning Euro 2016. There, the ‘Bug’ openly thanked him for having managed the national team title that he so wanted to win. “Neither get individual titles, nor Champions, this has made me happier”, said the number ‘7’.

Cristiano is not one hundred percent happy, and some will judge him for that. That sporting ego, which can sometimes boycott the collective, is questioned today, but you have to understand that this competitive instinct has been his great driving force to reinvent himself every year and try to be the best of all (he did it many times).

His combative soul, his addiction to being the hero of the poster today is being violated by statistics: Cristiano at Real Madrid had an average of 50 goals per year in 9 seasons, at ‘Juve’ he did not drop below 30 goals in 3 seasons. With United he came close to his average alone in the 2021-2022 season (24 goals). In this 2022-2023 campaign he has only celebrated three times.

Even if he bothers, even if he offers million-view interviews, there are signs of a precipitous decline. All of that is true, what should not be admitted is disrespect for one of the greatest careers in football history. Respect Cristiano Ronaldo’s last dance. Let’s stop this lousy habit of inviting those who have won so many battles to retire. There are players like CR7 who deserve to choose how to write the last scene of the great movie of his life. Fortunately, in the retelling of history the final days of some cracks are being forgotten. We remember Pelé’s goals in the World Cup finals and not his matches in the United States Cosmos. We repeated Maradona’s goal against England and we already forgot his failed attempt to return to Boca. Hopefully the videos with Cristiano’s more than 800 goals will one day erase the disappointment of seeing a tremendous star crestfallen on a bench of substitutes.