The Last Dance is over. Real Madrid fans already said goodbye to Cristiano Ronaldo once in 2018 after he capped off the historic Champions League three peat, and they knew this day would be coming when Ronaldo would officially end his appearances at World Cups.
And while Portugal will be empty handed in terms of World Cup titles after falling 1-0 to Iberian rivals Spain in a hard fought matchup between two top teams, there is no question that Ronaldo's legacy is not at all sullied by this defeat or his lack of World Cup titles.
But the best person to sum up why that is, is the man himself. Speaking to reporters after the game, Ronaldo put it in simple terms that anyone can understand when it comes to where his legacy stands in the history of Portuguese football and the context of both the World Cup and international football as a whole.
Cristiano Ronaldo put Portuguese football on the map
Ronaldo said, via Fabrizio Romano, “I will wake up tomorrow with same mood as I did today. I did my best. I won three titles with Portugal, before me it was zero titles. I can only be happy”.
There are a lot of people who like to rage bait when it comes to football talk, probably knowing that football is so popular you will find a lot of people who will agree with you no matter what you say - or, worse yet, that there are a lot of people who only form their opinions as casuals who watch the World Cup every four years.
But there is obviously so much more to football than the World Cup - and that includes international football itself. Ronaldo started his career with the Portuguese national team at the end of one golden era with Luis Figo, Nuno Gomes, Deco, and others , bridged another with Pepe, Ricardo Quaresma, and Nani, and then finished with the likes of Vitinha, Rafael Leao, and Joao Neves.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the only one in the history of Portugal who not only holds all the records but also won. He did not win alone, no, but that 2016 European Championship victory is a massive, massive accomplishment for both Portugal and Ronaldo that is glossed over far too easily by his opportunistic haters. And the Nations League triumphs, two of them, are also a huge deal for Portugal.
Ronaldo said it best. He brought titles to Portugal. He brought winning to an entire country. And they will always be grateful for that, no matter what anyone else says.
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