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Cristiano Ronaldo’s Legacy Was Once Unquestionable. Has That Changed?
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Legacy Was Once Unquestionable. Has That Changed?
While Cristiano Ronaldo’s impact on both Portuguese and global football is unmistakable, a slew of disappointing performances in the last three major tournaments may have put his otherwise impeccable pedigree into question.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup was, among other things, the tournament of stars. Kylian Mbappé took home the Golden Boot and finished as the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, while reigning Ballon d’Or winner and fellow Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé put forth a handful of impressive performances as well.
Two years after his Ballon d’Or, Rodri recovered the same world-class levels that permeated his game before his ACL injury en route to a Golden Ball and a World Cup title with Spain.
Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham formed a scintillating one-two punch for England, Erling Haaland excelled in Norway’s first major tournament in 26 years, Lionel Messi delivered arguably his best-ever World Cup for Argentina at the ripe age of 39, while Vinícius Júnior dragged Brazil as far as he could before being undone by Haaland’s unstoppable form in the Round of 16.
There is at least one big name star, however, who failed to deliver. Cristiano Ronaldo , in his last opportunity to complete the one thing that was missing from his résumé, came up short. Not only did he fail to reach his first-ever World Cup final, but he also failed to produce his first iconic campaign in the tournament. Unlike Johan Cruyff in ’74, Eusébio in ’66, Zico in ’82 and Roberto Baggio in ’94, Ronaldo doesn’t have a single World Cup where you can pull up as a memorable individual tournament.
It’s gotten to the point where he’s dismissed the importance of the world’s biggest sporting event, telling Piers Morgan that winning a World Cup wasn’t a dream of his, and claiming that his EURO 2016 title carries just as much weight as a World Cup title would.
But as fraught as Ronaldo’s final World Cup campaign might be, you cannot understate his impact on Portugal’s national team. His first major tournament was at the 2004 EUROs, where he’d bag two goals and two assists as a 19-year-old fresh off of his first season with Manchester United . Portugal, the host of the tournament, lost in the final to Greece, and two years later the nation would reach the semifinals of the World Cup in Germany, losing to eventual runners-up France.
Photo by Andreas Rentz/Bongarts/Getty Images
At the time, the Portuguese national team was going through a transition. The golden generation that brought the nation back to the World Cup after a 16-year drought and returned to the EUROs after 12, was beginning to phase out. Just as Ronaldo was hitting his prime for United and Real Madrid and attaining the captain’s armband, the likes of Luís Figo , Rui Costa, Vítor Baía, and Pauleta were hanging up their boots.
A talented group including Pepe , Nani , and João Moutinho would make their ways up to the senior team alongside Ronaldo, but after the semifinal appearance in 2006, there was a string of disappointing results.
At EURO 2008, Portugal fell to Germany in the quarterfinals, and in 2010, they’d lose to eventual champions Spain in the round of 16. Ronaldo would score just one goal in each tournament.
Ronaldo’s three goals at the 2012 European Championships were good enough to earn him joint-top goalscorer honors, but Portugal would once again fall to Spain in the quarterfinals. Two years later in Brazil, Portugal crashed out in the group stage behind Germany and the United States, and Ronaldo would score once while providing an assist.
Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
2016 brought a long-awaited redemption for Portugal, who edged France 1-0 in extra time to secure their first-ever major championship. Ronaldo exited the final with an injury after 25 minutes, but he nonetheless had perhaps his best tournament in a Portugal jersey to date, winning the silver boot with three goals and being named to the team of the tournament.
Going into the 2018 World Cup , the 33-year-old Ronaldo had already won five Champions Leagues , three Premier Leagues , and two La Ligas , but he hadn’t quite made his mark yet on the world’s biggest competition, having scored just three goals in his first three World Cups.
However, he would more than double his tally in Russia, scoring a brilliant hat trick against Spain in Portugal’s opening match, and netting the winner against Morocco in the following fixture. Firing on all cylinders, it seemed that Ronaldo would finally have his moment in the Russian sun. Alas, it wasn’t to be, with the soon-to-be Juventus forward failing to score against Iran and Uruguay as Portugal suffered yet another early World Cup exit.
Ronaldo then set things alight at EURO 2021, bagging five goals in the group stage and becoming the all-time leading scorer (14) and all-time assist provider (8) in the history of the European Championship. However, he was unable to provide the goods when it mattered most, as Belgium prevailed 1-0 in the Round of 16 via Thorgan Hazard’s first-half goal.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar saw perhaps the first signs of Ronaldo’s decline in a Portugal jersey. After breaking the deadlock from the penalty spot in a 3-2 win against Ghana, Ronaldo was kept under wraps against Uruguay and South Korea, and soon, he found himself the victim of one of the biggest shocks in the history of the Seleção.
Rather than start his captain, Portugal manager Fernando Santos opted to drop him from the starting XI for Gonçalo Ramos , 16 years Ronaldo’s junior, who answered the call by scoring a hat trick in a 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland in the first round of the knockout stage.
Ramos would start once again in the quarterfinals against Morocco, but neither he nor Ronaldo, who’d enter the match in the 50th minute, were able to provide a goal as Portugal fell 1-0 to the rising Atlas Lions.
In hindsight, this would have been the perfect time for Portug...
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