Ego vs Legacy

Ego

Cristiano Ronaldo has always known that he is a fantastic footballer, one of the best, if not the best according to some. I will not get into debates of greatness by the way, this is subjective and everyone can have an opinion about it. In my eyes he is absolutely clinical and knows what needs to be done to score, he is at times obsessed with it — pushing too far on the individualistic for a team sport. Not only that, but he has understood that his body needs to be kept not just in shape, but as close to perfect as humanly possible, and this is evident when you see him.

He has embraced the role of the idol quite naturally and he is aware that a whole country is represented by him when it comes to football. But this at times is taken too far as he seems to constantly forget that nearly all his goals have required an assist from a teammate or a ball won by another, and his wins come from great defensive plays by others or wonderful saves by the goalkeepers he has had as teammates.

Not only that, but his ignorance regarding his own national team has been made evident, for he claims there is a before and after and I will agree with that — but before him there were Figo, Rui Costa, Pauleta, Deco, Fernando Peyroteo, Paulo Futre and of course, the greatest of all, Eusébio (1 world cup, 6 games and 9 goals that led Portugal to third place and him being the top scorer of this edition of the tournament). He forgets that Portugal had already gifted the world with great athletes and footballers, and that many Portuguese names were already placed among the greatest in the sport.

The best in history is me, full stop. The numbers speak for themselves. If I get there (to 1,000 goals), it is amazing, an objective, but I don’t think long-term.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Legacy

With close to a 1000 goals, a before-and-after for the Portuguese national team, the record for the top scorer in Champions League History and many more acolytes — one would think his legacy is sealed. But as of recent his ego has taken precedence more than ever before — always minimizing the specific league in which a certain player is at (the Ligue 1 and currently the MLS), constantly self-claiming to be the greatest, forgetting those before him as if their history meant nothing, and not willing to accept critique and the fact that being captain comes not only with benefits, but responsibilities.

He will be placed among the greats because he has worked hard for that and deserves it. Not only because of goals or trophies, but because he really was and still is a unique and differential player. It would have been nice though, to see him simply let people come to their own conclusions, but it seems he needs to make it evident and that in his mind, he is the best.

While his name will be connected to the 2016 Euros, the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League and the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League — we must not forget that he did not win these alone. In reality, the winning goals were not his except for 1, 2016 it was Éder and 2018-19 it was Gonçalo Guedes, but 2024-25 he was the hero, as he scored the equalizer that took the game to penalties, where they won. Yet in World Cups, his numbers fell short of expectations, the ones he created on his own — the latest one coming from him saying "I'm back" after scoring 2 goals against Uzbekistan and only scoring once against Croatia after that (Portugal ended their run against the eventual winners, Spain, with a 1-0 score) .

A Reminder / The Future

To the fans who only follow Portugal because of Cristiano Ronaldo, I want to tell you this: There was a before him, but there will be an after him and no person will get in the way of this, not even him...not even you and your social media posts.

There are many fantastic footballers already claiming a spot at the world stage and I want to share them with you, because Portuguese football is not just one name.

These are some of the names to remember:

At PSG: Vitinha, João Neves, Nuno Mendes and Gonçalo Ramos.

At Manchester City: Ruben Dias

At Manchester United: Bruno Fernandes

At Real Madrid: Bernardo Silva

At FC Barcelona: João Cancelo

At Chelsea: Pedro Neto & Geovany Quenda

At Roma: Rodrigo Mora

At Juventus FC: Francisco Conceição & João Mário

And many more: Mateus Fernandes, Martim Fernandes, Afonso Patrão, Daniel Banjaqui, João Simões, Gonçalo Oliveira, etc.