Cristiano Ronaldo not ready to retire from international football
Al Jazeera
Star player says he will be ‘the first to leave’ international football when he can no longer contribute to his team.
Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has dismissed suggestions he had considered ending his international career in the near future, adding that post-Euro criticism did not worry him.
Ronaldo led Portugal in the Euro 2024 championship, where his country was knocked out in the quarterfinals following a loss against France.
“That’s all from the press. It never crossed my mind that my cycle [with Portugal] had come to an end. Quite the opposite: it gave me even more motivation to continue to be honest,” Ronaldo told a news conference on Monday.
“The motivation is to come to the national team to win the Nations League … We’ve already won it once, and we want to do it again. I might say the same thing over and over again. But I don’t think long term; it’s always short term.”
Portugal host Croatia in their Nations League opener on Thursday before welcoming Scotland in League A Group One on Sunday.
