A teary-eyed Cristiano Ronaldo exited football’s biggest tournament after Portugal’s shocking 0-1 defeat to Morocco in the FIFA World Cup 2022 quarterfinal on Saturday. Such was the impact of the defeat that a stunned Ronaldo began his walk back to the tunnel without staying back a while to acknowledge the Portuguese fans.
Others around Ronaldo, a football icon, comforted him as he began the long walk back, perhaps the final time, from the world cup stage. Nearly 24 hours later, the star forward shared his thoughts to his millions of followers on social media admitting the ‘dream’ has ended.
A wave of comforting messages followed.
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From basketball icon LeBron James to rising star Kylian Mbappe, athletes, public figures and fans have flooded the comment section of Ronaldo’s post on Instagram, paying rich tributes, calling him with few even terming him the ‘greatest’ footballer in history.
Mbappe left three emojis – a crown, hands gesturing thanks and that of a goat (a reference to Greatest Of All Time).
Pele wrote, “Thanks for making us smile, my friend.”
“Legend,” wrote LeBron.
In his glittering career, Ronaldo has won nearly every major trophy but winning the world cup was his biggest dream but he may have to retire without realising that now. It’s highly unlikely that the 37-year-old will ever play in a world cup match again considering by the time the next showpiece event begins, he will be 41.
Ronaldo though has said he won’t make any decision in the heat of the moment.
“There’s no point in reacting rashly,” Ronaldo wrote. “I just want everybody to know that a lot has been said, a lot has been written, a lot has been speculated about, but my dedication to Portugal has never wavered for an instant.”
“I’ve always been just one more (Portuguese) fighting for everyone’s goal. I would never turn my back on my teammates or my country,” he added.
Ronaldo became the first ever player to score across five world cups when he converted a spot-kick during a group match against Ghana.
“In my five appearances at World Cups over 16 years, always playing alongside great players and supported by millions of Portuguese, I have given my all. I left everything I had on the pitch. I’ll never shrink from a battle and I have never given up on that dream. Unfortunately, that dream ended yesterday,” he wrote.
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